Regents propose 3 percent tuition hike for spring

IOWA CITY - The Board of Regents is considering upping resident undergraduate tuition by 3 percent for the spring 2016 semester, representing the first increase for that group of students since fall 2012.

The 3 percent increase is higher than the 1.75 percent increase initially proposed last year for the 2015-2016 school year. If approved, the spring increase would add $100 to a full-time undergraduate resident student's bill and be prorated based on credit hour for part-time undergraduate residents, according to documents made public Tuesday.

Fall tuition will remain frozen at $6,678 for University of Iowa resident undergraduates and $6,648 for those students at Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa.

The Board of Regents will consider the tuition increase at its meeting next week, and it's expected to take action during its September board meeting.

The board in the fall rejected a proposal to increase tuition for the upcoming school year and instead approved an unprecedented third-straight freeze for resident undergraduates, conditional on a 4.3 percent in state appropriations equal to $21.7 million.

But the 2015 General Assembly passed only a 1.26 percent bump equal to just $6.5 million.

'Combined with multiyear tuition freezes, the lack of state appropriations to the regent public universities puts a significant strain on education operating budgets,” according to regent documents made public Tuesday.

The proposed increase is expected to generate $3.5 million if applied to all three public universities for the second half of the academic year, and it's expected to help the institutions manage inflationary expenses, which now are projected to average 1.9 percent.

If approved, the increase would set a new annual base for resident undergraduate rates at $6,878 for UI students and $6,848 for ISU and UNI students. For just the spring semester, UI resident undergraduates would pay $3,439 and ISU and UNI students would pay $3,424, according to regent documents.

In general, according to board officials, the increase is not expected to change students' financial aid packages.

'However, students with concerns related to this small increase may have their concerns addressed on a case-by-case basis by each university,” according to the regent documents.

The regents' conditional approval of an unprecedented third-straight freeze last fall countered an initial proposal from the board office to increase tuition for the upcoming school year by 1.75 percent. Some students, faculty, and officials at UNI and ISU had backed that proposed increase, citing revenue demands needed to support a growing student body at ISU and a shrinking one at UNI.

But Regent Larry McKibben suggested a third freeze based on anticipated revenue and savings from an efficiency review underway across the three university campuses. A consultant hired to conduct the efficiency review initially projected savings at between $30 million and $80 million a year, and McKibben in the fall said those savings could make freezing tuition possible.

'We have to make sure that this is an affordable opportunity for students and families who want to get a higher education and have been priced out of the opportunity,” McKibben told The Gazette in November.

In response to Tuesday's news of a possible tuition hike in the spring, Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, renewed his call for a special legislative session to overturn Gov. Terry Branstad's veto of 'critical education funding.”

'It is critical to hold down the costs of college for Iowa's working families,” Danielson said in a statement. 'I have heard time and time again about the crushing student debt out there. We have to do everything we can to keep our best and brightest and not price them out of education.”

During the most recent legislative session, Senate Democrats proposed a higher education budget that would have funded the third-straight tuition freeze, but the House didn't support it. Both sides worked together on a compromise that would have secured one-time money for the proposed tuition freeze, but Branstad vetoed it.