Thanks to a nearly eight-year effort of various 5X administrators, Ohio students enrolled in the university’s College of Podiatric Medicine will see a significant reduction in tuition on their next semester’s bill and will graduate with less debt.
At its Sept. 20 meeting, the Kent State Board of Trustees approved a revised tuition rate that reduces tuition by nearly $14,000 for Ohio resident students – a decrease of more than 30% – from the current tuition rate effective for the 2024 Spring Semester. Yearly tuition for in-state podiatric medicine students will drop to $32,095 from $45,961. This tuition reduction makes Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine tuition the lowest among all 11 U.S. podiatric colleges for Ohioans.
For the first time, students from Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine are now eligible to receive funds from the state of Ohio to help subsidize their tuition. Unlike other medical students attending public universities in Ohio, students in the university’s podiatric program have not received a subsidy to defer costs associated with their education. This issue was resolved on July 4, 2023, when Gov. Mike DeWine signed the biennium budget bill for fiscal years 2024-2025. The new budget included a provision to consider Kent State College of Podiatric Medicine students as eligible for State Share of Instruction funding under the Medical I funding line item.
Inclusion in this funding line will provide approximately $3.4 million in annual state subsidy that will be used to significantly decrease tuition for Ohio residents while expanding clinical and research opportunities for its students. Out-of-state students also will benefit, seeing a decrease of $3,139 in current tuition at Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine. Out-of-state tuition will be set at $42,832 effective 2024 Spring Semester.
Dr. Allan Boike, dean of Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine, said the tuition reduction benefits students in three ways.
“It allows students to get a better education because it’s going to allow us to have more technology available to them,” Boike said. “It’s going to allow us to do research, which will improve their educational process. And the third thing is that $14,000 is going to make a major difference because if you multiply that over the four years, it obviously is a $56,000 reduction in their tuition obligations over that period of time.”
Boike also said the tuition reduction allows Kent State to recruit more highly qualified students and makes the university more attractive to students who are from Ohio to stay in Ohio as opposed to going elsewhere to get their education.
The effort to make Kent State’s podiatric medicine students eligible for State Share of Instruction funding was initiated by the university after years of pursuing the change.
“It’s a huge win and something that the Office of Government and Community Relations has been working on for 7 1/2 years,” said Nick Gattozzi, Kent State’s executive director for government and community relations. “We started having conversations in 2016 preparing for the budget in 2017, lobbying internally with the medical deans and Inter-University Council schools, and continued to press the issue in the last three budget cycles.”
Gattozzi said this was a team effort that started under former Kent State President Beverly Warren; Todd Diacon as provost; Mark Polatajko, senior vice president for finance and administration; and Gattozzi. The effort continued with Diacon’s leadership when he became university president, Gattozzi said, noting it was a priority for the university.
The effort gained an additional boost when it received support from State Sens. Jerry Cirino and Matt Dolan. Cirino, whose district includes Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine in Independence, Ohio, added as an amendment the State Share of Instruction funding for Kent State’s podiatric medicine students to the state operating budget process in his role as chair of the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee and vice chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Dolan, who previously represented the college before redistricting, serves as chair of the Senate Finance Committee and gave his support to make the change in the state’s budget.
“This funding will directly lower costs for Kent State podiatric students, thereby making their education more affordable while supporting additional research opportunities in emerging areas, including diabetic care,” Cirino said. “I applaud the university’s Board of Trustees, President Todd Diacon, Dean Allan Boike and the KSU administration for moving swiftly to reduce tuition for these students. With over 80% of Ohio podiatrists being alumni of this college, we know many of these students will become doctors who will remain in our state. This student support is an investment in our future workforce.”
The tuition decrease provides the college with a competitive advantage to enroll more students from Ohio and the Midwest region. The Kent State College of Podiatric Medicine tuition will be the lowest in the nation for Ohio students and fifth lowest and below the median for out-of-state students.
For more information about Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine, visit www.kent.edu/cpm.