COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Members of The Ohio State University board of trustees are scheduled Friday to formally approve a controversial bonus for former president Karen Holbrook.

The trustees had quietly given Holbrook the bonus earlier this summer but overlooked the need to approve the money in public. A formal resolution was added to the agenda for the board’s September meeting on Friday.

Holbrook won praise from the trustees for her service. She left the university after five years as president. But the $250,000 bonus prompted some critics to call the award excessive.

Student Sid Seavers of Miamisburg said the money could have been better spent if it went to offset the high cost of tuition for some people on campus.

“I feel like that could help a lot of underfunded kids who cannot really afford to come here. They could have saved that for us,” Seavers said.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told WHIOTV.COM that he would not have chosen to reward Holbrook with such a large bonus, but he stopped short of criticizing the trustees.

Jim.otte@whiotv.com