A group of Kent State University students is launching an ambitious campaign to bring back money earmarked to help students from underrepresented groups facing emergency situations.
Members of Kent State’s chapter of the Ohio Student Association, a left-leaning organizing group, say the emergency scholarships were another casualty of a new state law overhauling how public colleges and universities work in Ohio.
In 2025, Senate Bill 1 ended diversity, equity and inclusion (or DEI) offices and programs. Kent State administrators closed three centers on campus to comply with those rules: the LGBTQ+ Center, Women’s Center and Multicultural Center.
Each center offered resources to help support those populations, including emergency scholarships students could apply for to navigate dire situations. Kent State officials told Signal Ohio each center used their own criteria to determine who could receive that money and how frequently.
“Those scholarships, they really saved lives,” said Toryn Hudson, a Kent State student and secretary of its chapter of the Ohio Students Association.
Now, Hudson and other OSA members said those funds are gone. University officials dispute that claim and say emergency help is still available for all students.
The dismantling of the centers and the corresponding support motivated the group to launch what it’s calling a “Save The Scholarships” campaign. Members want to add a $5 fee each semester to undergraduate students’ bills. They believe that money would generate enough to cover a $500 emergency grant for up to 250 students.
“This $5 added on to each student’s tuition is less than a cup of coffee to us, but it could be the difference between 250 of our classmates being homeless or not in a month,” Hudson said.
Emergencies – and needing help to cover them – are common in higher education. Findings from a national student affairs group show nearly one in five college students nationwide said it would be tough to come up with $500 to cover an unexpected cost in the next month. The report also noted 13% of students during the 2019-20 academic year received some type of emergency help.
Kent State officials say emergency help still exists
Kent State officials don’t agree with the students’ characterization that the support is gone. Yvonna Washington-Greer, the university’s associate vice president for belonging, engagement and success, told Signal Ohio the university reallocated the centers’ money. It now operates through a centralized hub called the CARES Center.
“Consolidating emergency aid into a single department streamlines the process and ensures students have one clear point of contact when unexpected needs arise,” Washington-Greer wrote in an email.
The department’s website notes students can use the one-time awards to cover issues related to food insecurity, mental health and/or housing needs.
Student organizers, though, said that criteria is limiting. They pointed out that the CARES Center’s website doesn’t note anything about helping with medical costs.
That’s a change from the language used at one of the now-defunct centers. Internet archives show the women’s center once offered assistance that covered “medications and other costs related to emergency medical care.” Students could used that money for safety needs and/or travel costs related to the death or illness of an immediate family member.
Washington-Greer told Signal Ohio students facing “medical expenses that threaten their basic needs” are still encouraged to apply for help through the CARES Center.
OSA president Grace Goodin said the group wants its new scholarship fund to have far broader eligibility rules. The support will be easily accessible for any and all students during times of need, she said.
“If you need this money, and you can prove that you are in need of it, it can be given out,” she said.
Kent State OSA students optimistic about campaign
Kent State OSA’s chapter is pursuing the new fee through a carve-out in the university’s undergraduate student government charter that allows for student petitions and referendums.
Organizers said they’re first looking to earn the support – and signatures – of about 5,000 undergraduates, above the 8% of all undergraduates the charter requires for a referendum effort to move forward. The university enrolled 25,830 total students at its Kent campus last fall.
If they meet that threshold, the university’s student government will host an online election on the measure. And, if the measure passes, Kent State’s OSA group will eventually need to create an advisory board to oversee distribution of the money.
The process could take months or years. Kent State officials told Signal Ohio they aren’t aware of other students using this approach in the past.
Still, Kent State OSA members remain optimistic.
“If you’re feeling powerless, hopeless, or angry after SB 1, this is how we take our power back,” they wrote in an Instagram post promoting the campaign.
Organizers are aiming to collect enough signatures by March or April. They said they plan to do that, in part, by knocking on the doors of every single residence hall.
“We don’t need every single student to sign this petition,” said Goodin. “We don’t need every single student to vote yes. We’re just trying to connect with the ones who are aligned [with the effort].”
