The Owens Community College Board of Trustees has approved a recommendation to increase tuition this
summer.
At Tuesday’s meeting, trustees unanimously agreed to raise tuition no more than $100 for full-time
students effective summer semester.
The resolution was based on a recommendation from the board’s finance committee, which met Jan. 29.
The per-credit-hour equivalent is $3.47 above the current credit hour base of $149.60.
The $100 allowed comes from wording in the last state biennium budget, which gave colleges the OK to
increase tuition 2 percent, or $100, for each of the two years of the budget.
Owens did increase tuition by $100 effective fall 2013 to the current amount. A second increase is
allowed, as Owens’ new fiscal year starts with summer term.
No exact amount of the tuition was set, however. That will be decided in March.
Enrollment at the college is down for spring semester this year, to 14,587, or down 12 percent, compared
to spring 2013, according to Betsy Johnson, vice president of enrollment management and student
services.
That decline was not unexpected as the college experienced a small fall 2013 class.
But the college is seeing a higher retention rate of 72.9 percent of high school graduates who enrolled
in the fall and stayed until spring, she added.
Also at the meeting, board President Rich Rowe welcomed the two new board members, Srini Jeebu of
Sylvania and Mary Beth Hammond of Findlay.
The board also passed a resolution nominating Steven R. Cotner for the Distinguished Alumnus Award
presented by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.
Cotner, of Perrysburg, graduated from Owens in 1975 with an associate of applied science and later earned
a bachelor of science in criminal justice from Bowling Green State University.
He has spent 32 years as president of Corporate Intelligence Consultants, 34 years as a member of the
Toledo chapter of the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), and two consecutive terms as
appointed by the governor to serve on the Ohio Private Investigation and Security Services Commission.

He also is a member of the college’s alumni association, YMCA/JCC of Greater Toledo, and the Rotary Club
of Perrysburg. He was instrumental in the partnership between ASIS and Owens’ Foundation in establishing
an endowed scholarship for students pursuing degrees in criminal justice and security management.
It also was announced that an open house is scheduled for Feb. 19 for the new MRI program lab, and a
ribbon cutting is set for April 29 in the new culinary arts lab.