University leadership believes that student enrollment will continue to grow for the next decade, and the campus master plan must prepare the campus for this enrollment growth. The master plan anticipates about 9 percent growth in the on-campus Kent Campus student population, with both undergraduates and graduate populations growing.  The university anticipates approximately 2,600 additional students on the Kent Campus taking classes, parking, sleeping, eating, and recreating.

Although the university is scheduling the Kent Campus classrooms moderately well, the master plan seeks to further increase the efficiency of how we use our classrooms.  The master plan sets the following utilization goals for classrooms:

• Assignable Square Feet (ASF) per Station (the amount of space each student has): The Kent Campus on average provides 21 ASF per Station. To achieve goals for more active learning and more flexibility, the campus average should increase to 24 ASF per Station.

Although the university is scheduling the Kent Campus teaching labs well, the master plan seeks to further increase the efficiency of how we use our teaching labs. The master plan sets the following utilization goals for teaching labs:

• Student Station Occupancy (number of seats actually filled): The Kent Campus now fills only 68% of seats during scheduled courses. Teaching labs are typically very expensive spaces, so there’s an expectation for higher utilization. To more efficiently use teaching labs, the goal is 80% seat fill.

When benchmarked against a large pool of similar universities with enrollment between 22,000 and 30,000, the Kent Campus provides less than average academic and support space per student than others.

KSU has established an ambitious goal – it seeks to double its research awards from $25 million in 2016 to $50 million in 2026.  KSU research activity is substantially lower than the KSU peer and KSU aspirational institutions, so research growth is needed to close this gap.

Despite the higher utilization goals for classrooms and teaching labs, academic space guidelines suggest that the Kent Campus will need additional academic spaces (classrooms, teaching labs, open labs).

Space guidelines also suggest that the Kent Campus needs additional assembly spaces, and that the need will grow as the student body grows.  Requests for additional assembly space from Student Life, the performing arts, and the School Fashion suggest the space guidelines are correct.