Ohio students enrolled in Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine (KSUCPM) 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, 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 University 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 tuition decrease provides the college with a competitive advantage to enroll more students from Ohio and the Midwest region. The Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine tuition will be the lowest in the nation for Ohio students and fifth lowest for out-of-state students.
For more information about Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine, visit www.kent.edu/cpm.
This article was produced by Kent State University.