UI President Mason supports undergrad, resident tuition freeze

IOWA CITY - Next month, the Board of Regents will consider approving an unprecedented third consecutive tuition freeze for undergraduate resident students at Iowa's public universities for the next academic year.

But the board office is not proposing a freeze for non-resident and graduate and professional students, as some regents suggested during a tuition discussion last month.

University of Iowa President Sally Mason on Tuesday told members of the media that she has been 'enthusiastic” about a third tuition freeze for undergraduate residents since before the Board of Regents raised the possibility last month.

She acknowledged that a freeze could pull millions in potential revenue from the campus but said, 'We are prepared to manage that.”

Mason said she's 'not as enthusiastic” about a freeze for non-resident students.

'We've always insisted that non-resident students in particular pay the full cost of their education,” Mason said. 'We are the public institution in Iowa, so I think in fairness to the taxpayers of Iowa we absolutely should hold to our non-resident students paying the full cost of their tuition.”

Mason also said she's 'less enthusiastic” about a tuition freeze for graduate and professional students because of the high cost of educating them - especially those in medical and dental programs. But, she said, the decision lies with the Board of Regents.

'We'll wait and see what the board's decision is, and we'll manage within the parameters they set for us,” Mason said.

The possible freeze comes after several board members last month rejected an initial proposal from the Board of Regents Office to increase tuition for undergraduate Iowans by 1.75 percent in the 2015-2016 academic year.

By instead freezing tuition for that group of students, projected revenue would drop by $4.5 million.

If the board goes further than the proposal and approves a freeze for all resident students - including those at the graduate and professional level - projected revenue could drop by $6.3 million. And if the board approves a freeze for all students, the universities would relinquish $14.5 million in tuition revenue, according to board documents.

A majority of the nine Board of Regents members have told The Gazette they support another tuition freeze. Several said they think early savings from a systemwide efficiency review will help cover the loss in projected tuition revenue.

The board also has said any tuition freeze hinges on state support of its request for a 1.75 percent increase in general university operating appropriations in the next school year.

According to the proposal board members will consider next month, non-resident undergraduate tuition rates would increase in the 2015-2016 school year by 1.75 percent at UI and University of Northern Iowa and by 1.2 percent at Iowa State University.

Graduate and professional tuition would increase by 1.75 percent for residents at all three universities and by 1.75 percent for non-residents at UI and UNI and by 1.2 percent for non-residents at ISU, according to board documents.

Right now, undergraduates account for 92 percent of tuition revenue at UNI, 84 percent of tuition revenue at ISU, and 75 percent of tuition revenue at UI. Residents account for 36 percent of tuition revenue at UI, 37 percent at ISU and 80 percent at UNI, according to board documents.

Tuition revenue comprises 60.7 percent of the universities' combined operating budgets. From the 2009 budget year to the 2014 budget year, the average annual increase in tuition and mandatory fees for undergraduate resident students in Iowa was 3 percent - well below the national average of 5.4 percent, according to the board office.

And although tuition might remain frozen for some students next year, mandatory fees are proposed to increase at all three universities. According to board documents, undergraduate fees are proposed to increase 1.78 percent at UI, .42 percent at ISU and 6.18 percent at UNI.