Regents approve fall tuition hikes for Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa

Press Citizen

CEDAR FALLS, Ia. — Ten weeks before the beginning of the fall semester, the Iowa Board of Regents has approved a tuition increase at each of the states three public universities.

The nine-member board voted Thursday to approve an across-the-board $216 tuition hike for all students at Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. Resident undergraduates at the University of Iowa will see a $216 increase in base tuition, but the increases for out-of-state, graduate and professional students will range from $1,078 and $2,578.

The Iowa Board of Regents is meeting June 8, 2017, in Cedar Falls. The board members are considering a proposal to raise tuition at all three of Iowa's public universities.

The vote during Thursday's meeting at UNI was immediately followed by a discussion of a Tuition Task Force being convened by the regents this summer.

The regents, which oversee the state's three public universities, have asked each institution to propose a five-year strategy for addressing their long-term funding issues. Those presentations will be made throughout the summer, and the task force is scheduled to report back to the regents in September.

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“This is not a final report," said Mike Richards, president of the board. "This is the beginning of a dialogue we hope to bring to the state this summer."

Jacob Simpson, president of UI Student Government, urged the regents to ensure any additional tuition revenue over the next five years gets based "on demonstrated institutional needs in alignment with our goal of student success."

Otherwise, Simpson said, the tuition increases "will build barriers between the University of Iowa and hopeful first-time, low-income and underserved students who wish to take advantage of and contribute to public higher education."

All three university presidents have argued that tuition increases were needed this fall because the Iowa Legislature has reduced year-over-year state funding to the regent institutions by nearly $30 million. Each university is at or near the bottom of its peer group in terms of tuition and fees for in-state students.

The Iowa Board of Regents meeting gets started at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Thursday, June 8, 2017.

Simpson and his counterparts at ISU and UNI, however, argued that multiple years of last-minute and mid-year tuition increases are making it difficult for Iowa students and their families to prepare for the costs of higher education.

ISU and UNI students praised the across-the-board nature of the increases at their institutions. The increases at UI, however, further widen the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition costs.

Thursday's vote raises annual resident undergraduate tuition for the 2017-18 academic year to $7,486 at UI and $7,456 at ISU and UNI. It calls for increasing undergraduate tuition for nonresidents to $29,130 at UI, $21,292 at ISU and $17,998 at UNI.

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter as @JeffCharis.