Anchor Intro: The Board of Trustees at Kent State University met March 11, 2015, to discuss the room rates in the Residence halls.

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The average room rates went up about 3.9 percent, the basic rate, which is the university’s cost of attendance went up about 3.99 percent.

A few reasons why they decided to raise the room rates will be due to cost of services, cost of staff, personnel utilities and major renovations in the halls.

Director of Residence Services Jill Church says they are very aware of what is happening around the state when they are making decisions about the room rate and Kent Sate is number six in terms of affordability, and they want to make sure they are in the middle of the pact.

Most first and second year students have a threshold of what they are able to borrow. With the room rates increase this could mean more debts for students.

“I don’t like that the room rates are going up because that means i have to increase in my loan amount or that i have to apply for more scholarships, which doesn’t really work if i don’t have a GPA for the scholarship,” said Mariah Hill.

There are different price points for living on campus so students could opt to live in the basic double room rate or without air conditioning, which is cheaper than the basic double rate. Students can make decisions about where they live that will be a cost savings for them.

“Certainly want to make sure everybody can afford it and we continue the students scholarships for housing and about 1million dollars a year we fund different student scholarships for housing and we maintain our commitment to do that as well,” said Jill.

For more information visit www.kent.edu/housing