Lefton: Kent State Renovations Plan for the Future

A $250 million plan to renovate the Kent State University main campus will be paid for by future students there if the proposal is approved by the Ohio Board of Regents.

President Lester Lefton announced this morning that a proposal to upgrade existing facilities and construct some new buildings on the Kent campus for action.

The proposal relies on a new student fee to pay back the $210 million Kent State plans to issue in bonds to pay for the construction work up front.

In a phone interview this afternoon, Lefton said the state does not have money to give Kent State for the renovations, which he described as a long-term investment in students, the campus and Northeast Ohio.

"Just like when you buy a house, or when you buy a car or General Motors decides to come out with a new kind of automobile, you invest, you borrow money and pay it back over a period of time with the goal of seeing a return on investment," Lefton said.

"Yes it is going to cost money," he said. "There’s no question about it. But we will not be able to compete in the economy that exists today if we don’t invest in our students."

The renovation proposal is essentially . Fingerhut argued the idea of implementing a student fee to pay for academic improvements went against his plan for higher education that encouraged access and affordability.

Highlights of the proposal, which emphasizes science and research facilities, include:

• $47.3 million for science facilities, including a new interdisciplinary laboratory expansion at Williams Hall
• $45 million for a new College of Architecture and Environmental Design
• $44.3 million for renovating and repurposing the Art Building and Van Deusen Hall
• $14 million for general improvements and minor renovations
• $9.7 million for reintegrating the College of Public Health with the "academic core of campus"

A total of $3.35 million alone will be spent bringing buildings into compliance with codes such as the American Disabilities Act. Nearly 80 percent of the funds are geared to the rehabilitation, renovation, reconstruction or increased energy efficiency of existing buildings.

In a statement released by the university, Petro said his consideration of the bond proposal "is influenced by the documented need to address these urgent maintenance and renovation projects at Kent State University and the realistic constraints of the state budget to provide alternative funding."

The fee breaks down as follows, according to the proposal submitted to Petro.

The fee will be charged at a rate of $24 per credit hour for in-state students and $28 for out-of-state students. The average course load for Kent State students is 13.5 credits, which would equal a fee of $324 per semester or $648 annually for the average in-state student. The fee would be $360 per semester and $720 annually for a student taking 15 credit hours.

The fee will be phased in over a period of five years, according to the proposal. The fee will be applied at $7 per credit hour in fiscal year 2013, $12 per credit hour in fiscal year 2014, $16 per credit hour in fiscal year 2015, and $20 per credit hour in fiscal year 2016.

As noted in the proposal, Lefton pointed to the fact the Undergraduate Student Government voted last year to endorse the fee-based renovation. He also pointed to an editorial that ran in the Daily Kent Stater Tuesday expressing support for the renovations as evidence that students support the idea.

"Students and parents are marching with their feet, coming in our doors," Lefton said. "And with record enrollment, record applications … they are saying we recognize that Kent State is a huge value proposition, that there’s a huge return on our investment.

"Parents and students, while they bear the cost of this, they also want good facilities," he said. "They want the facilities that match the aspiration of their kids. And that’s what we want to provide them. Facilities that match the aspirations of their 17-year-olds."

Petro has submitted the proposal to the Board of Regents, which posted the proposal on its website for public review and comment. (A copy of the proposal is attached to this article). The comment period is open until April 29.

The university plans to pay for the $210 million bond issuance with the student fee. Another $40 million will be raised through internal reallocations, fundraising and other means to pay for the rest of the planned upgrades, Lefton said.

Construction could start within six months, and all the planned improvements could be done within five years.

"What we’re trying to do is use business principles to invest in Kent State and Ohio," Lefton said. "And you can’t always do that by taking the easy way. The university’s going to be making sacrifices, but it’s going to be well worth its while at the end of the day."