The University of Akron is increasing the cost of its meal plans, revamping its refund policy and shuttering its Center for Child Development.
The board of trustees agreed Wednesday to boost the meal cost by about 5 percent. The university contracts with Aramark Corp. for dining services.
The increase per semester will range from $85 to $102, depending on the plan. The plans will range from $1,850 to $2,135.
The board also changed the refund policy for tuition, fees, room and board.
Students will be eligible for a full refund of tuition and fees within the first 14 days of attending a course. There will be no refund after that time.
The previous policy allowed graduated refund rates through the first third of the semester.
Students will be eligible for housing and meal refunds up to 28 days.
Meanwhile, the university at the end of spring semester is closing the Center for Child Development, which operates under the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education. Ten contract professionals and staff will lose their jobs
The center offers preschool programs and serves as an educational laboratory for students.
In a letter to students’ parents and staff, UA President Matthew J. Wilson said Wednesday that there were 69 children enrolled at the center in March — 49 full-time and 20 part-time. About half the children have families affiliated with the university.
Over the past five years, the center has run an average annual deficit of $274,400. The average cost to run the center every year has been $819,800, while the average revenue generated was $545,400. UA recently used $550,000 from central operating funds to close out the center’s deficit, Wilson wrote.
The university concluded that continuing to operate the center wasn’t viable, adding that few UA students, faculty and staff used it.
“While I know this is not the news you want to hear, please know that we researched the situation carefully, listened to all input, and thoroughly deliberated the situation before making this decision,” Wilson said in the letter.
UA will work with the center’s staff to provide information about alternative childcare options.
In other business, the trustees also:
• Appointed John Green the new Dean of Arts & Sciences. Green, who has served as interim dean of the college since Oct. 14, 2015, had been serving as vice dean for humanities and social sciences, and chair of the Department of Political Science as well as continuing in his longtime role as director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.
He will earn $219,000.
• Appointed Christopher “C.J.” Peters, the associate dean for faculty scholarship and a professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, as the new Dean of the Law School. He will earn $270,000 and donate 10 percent of that salary to scholarships for the law school.
• Accepted the resignation of retired Army Lt. Col. Bradley Harvey, who headed the school’s Corps of Cadets program. His resignation is effective May 31. He is earning $100,000. The Corps program, which former President Scott Scarborough launched in 2015, is being disbanded.