Iowa Board of Regents indicates no further tuition increase for next year

Despite a proposal to take back $18 million from the Board of Regents this budget year, board President Bruce Rastetter on Tuesday said the regents won't raise tuition for the next school year beyond what already was approved in December.

'Tuition is set, as the board has voted on it,” Rastetter said.

That 2 percent tuition increase for resident undergraduate students in the 2017-2018 academic year would bring rates to $7,270 at University of Iowa and $7,240 at Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa. Non-residents, graduate and professional students, and those in more expensive programs also will see varying rate hikes next year, depending on program and level.

When the board approved the increases, members identified tuition as one of two 'key resource components,” along with state appropriations.

'The board's strategic plan calls for adequate support of regent institutions from all sources,” according to board documents.

In September, the board rolled out a two-year plan to raise resident undergraduate tuition 2 percent and request lawmakers increase state appropriations 2 percent in each of the next two years. Gov. Terry Branstad earlier this month proposed fiscal 2018 and 2019 budgets that include 2 percent increases for the Board of Regents, but only after first pulling millions from the regents' base funding in the current budget year.

The governor proposed taking back $26 million from the regents, and lawmakers this week dialed that back to $18 million. The proposed split would take $2 million from UNI and $8 million from both UI and ISU.

When lawmakers have come up short of regents' funding requests in years past, the board has considered raising tuition midyear - including in spring 2016 when the board lifted a freeze on resident undergraduate tuition. Regents then approved tuition increases for the current academic year, and in December approved next year's rate increases after university administrators and students supported them - citing a need for more revenue.

But Rastetter confirmed the board doesn't intend to look at another midyear increase.

'We believe tuition is set by the votes we took last fall,” he said.

That is, unless legislation to freeze tuition at their current levels becomes law. That proposal would reverse the tuition increases the board just approved for next year.

Although lawmakers are still debating the proposal, Rastetter on Tuesday said he's appreciative they scaled back the governor's original de-appropriation.

'Nobody likes making cuts at this time of year,” he said. 'But the universities have put together how they would do that, so we'll learn more here in the next few weeks.”

UI President Harreld has directed his department heads to start prioritizing their budgets, according to UI Provost Barry Butler. And Iowa State, likewise, has announced plans to use a variety of measures to balance this year's budget.

Those include:

l Postponing non-essential maintenance and repairs;

l Delaying some job searches or eliminating vacant positions;

l Cutting costs for professional development, equipment, travel, printing and communications;

l Temporarily reducing some campuswide services.

In an emailed statement Tuesday, ISU President Steven Leath said he and his staff appreciate lawmakers' work in reducing the cut to regent institutions. But, he said, any cut is 'extremely difficult.”

'State funding is critical for us to meet our students' needs, recruit and retain top faculty and maintain the exceptional quality of an Iowa State education,” he said. 'With that in mind, we will take a very thoughtful and diligent approach to how we manage these cuts so as to minimize the impact on our students now and in the long-term.”

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