UNI president warns one-time funding veto would jeopardize tuition freeze

JOHNSTON - If one-time funding Iowa legislators approved for regents' universities is vetoed by Gov. Terry Branstad the impact will be felt almost immediately, University of Northern Iowa President William Ruud warned Friday.

UNI and its sister institutions - University of Iowa and Iowa State University - have frozen undergraduate, in-state tuition for the past two years. The governor and lawmakers have bragged about holding the line on college costs faced by Iowa families, but Ruud warned funding levels approved by the Legislature may not allow the freeze to continue beyond fall semester.

'If the one-time money is vetoed we will have some challenges yet this fall if the tuition freeze stays on,” Ruud said during taping of Iowa Press. 'Unless the tuition freeze is compensated with appropriate state funding it becomes very, very difficult to live with a tuition freeze.”

Lawmakers approved $6.3 million in one-time funding, including $1.1 million for UNI, with the intent that it would allow regents' universities to freeze in-state tuition for a third consecutive year. Lawmakers also added $5.1 million to UNI's annual base funding. That was less than the $8 million a year for three years UNI said it needed.

The funding, which was part of a $135 million spending bill, is considered veto bait for Branstad, who historically has opposed one-time funding. The governor has until early July to decide whether to sign the legislation or veto it.

Rudd, who is starting his third year as UNI president, said university officials will look at state finding over the next few months to assess where they are at before recommending to regents, probably in October, whether they can afford to continue the tuition freeze spring semester 2016.

While a tuition freeze is politically popular, it may not be in the long-term best interest of the universities and Iowa families, Ruud said.

'Our student (government) leadership has opposed tuition freezes for the last two years because they understand reasonable, moderate, appropriate increases over long periods of time do in fact benefit Iowa families and Iowa students,” he said.

Iowa Press can be seen at 7:30 p.m. and at noon Sunday on Iowa Public Television, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World, and online at www.iptv.org beginning this evening.