The board of Kent State University approved a plan to issue $170 million of bonds to finance a large capital improvement plan. The debt will be general-receipts bonds with a 30-year maturity.
The board also agreed to raise tuition by 3.5%, the maximum amount allowed by Ohio, starting next year, according to local reports.
The board will vote on a final borrowing plan next month.
The school has until December 2013 to issue the debt.
The university’s president, Lester A. Lefton, called it a historic day, and added that that within two and a half years the campus would start to look very different.
Officials decided to abandon an earlier plan that would have allowed the school to issue up to $250 million of bonds backed by a new student fee.
