University of Akron to raise tuition 3.5 percent for spring semester

AKRON — Tuition for undergraduate students at the University of Akron will stay the same this fall, but increase 3.5 percent in the spring, says a story in today’s Akron Beacon Journal.

The increase is the maximum allowed under the new state budget signed last month by Gov. Ted Strickland.

UA trustees noted Wednesday that other public universities in Northeast Ohio are not holding the line on tuition for the fall.

Kent State and Youngstown State universities raised tuition for the fall after state legislators last month removed a tuition freeze that has been in effect since 2006.

Lawmakers lifted the freeze as the state reduced funding for higher education while patching together a new biennial budget.

UA’s tuition increase means that full-time, in-state undergraduates will pay $139 more a semester, or $4,108 a semester in tuition and general fees.

At Wednesday’s UA trustee meeting, trustees Jane Bond, a retired Summit County Common Pleas Court judge, and Warren Woolford, retired Akron city planning director, voted against the increase.