Regents OK in-state tuition for new UNI students from border states

CEDAR FALLS — Although the University of Northern Iowa wanted to offer in-state tuition to both new and returning students from Iowa’s six border states, only freshmen and new transfer students from neighboring states will get the lower rates — given the limited available funding to support the initiative this first year.

The Board of Regents approved the neighborly rate at its recent meeting — lowering tuition and fees for this upcoming fall for new students from Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri from $22,359 to $10,201, saving them more than $12,000.

UNI last fall had asked lawmakers to appropriate $3 million for the 2026 budget year to allow the institution to offer contiguous-state students the same tuition and fees as Iowans — arguing 40 percent of UNI graduates from border states stay in state after graduation, “joining Iowa’s workforce and adding value to Iowa’s economic development.”

“Not only will this funding open access to programs for students from the states contiguous to Iowa, it will also increase enrollment of undergraduates ready to join the Iowa workforce upon graduation,” UNI argued at the time.

Although the hope was for $3 million in state aid annually until the program was self-sustaining, UNI spokesman Pete Moris said the campus would have reissued its requests every year until the initiative generated enough revenue to support itself.

‘Working with UNI next year’

Gov. Kim Reynolds at the start of the legislative session recommended a one-time special appropriation of $3 million to “jump start” the UNI program, covering both new and returning students. But lawmakers instead approved $1.5 million annually for just new UNI students from border states — and not continuing students already enrolled.

Given that change, on the day before the Board of Regents in June was set to approve tuition rates for all three public universities — including UNI’s lower rates for border states — Reynolds vetoed the $1.5 million, saying she disapproves of ongoing funding.

“The contours of the program are also unclear as it relates to existing out-of-state students,” she said. “I look forward to working with UNI next year to further develop the details of the program and see it launched.”

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With only hours to digest the veto, regents delayed their vote on UNI rates — giving the campus a month to figure out a way to support the lower neighboring-state tuition and fees for this upcoming fall.

They found the answer in the UNI Foundation, which agreed — for FY26 — to supplement any gap in revenue UNI would suffer by offering border-state students an in-state rate, estimated at $1.5 million, spokesman Moris said.

The foundation, he said, is committed to helping for one year — giving UNI time to continue discussions with the governor’s office, lawmakers, and regents about keeping the low rates in place for border-state students through the duration of their time at UNI and for new incoming students.

‘Grow its enrollment’

In addition to boosting Iowa’s economy, UNI officials are looking to bolster enrollment — which slid 36 percent from a high of 14,070 in 2001 to a low of 8,949 in 2022. Although 90 percent of UNI’s total student population reigns from Iowa, much of its modest enrollment rebound of late has come from out-of-state students.

Because while UNI’s resident undergraduate enrollment has continued its slide to a low of 7,017 in fall 2024, non-resident undergraduates increased to 598 — with Illinois providing the most at 193, followed by Minnesota at 152 and Wisconsin at 85.

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“The purpose of this initiative is to help address what Gov. Reynolds identified as Iowa's most pressing economic challenge — worker shortages, coupled with slow population growth,” UNI President Mark Nook told regents in July, upon final approval of the border state rates, calling UNI “uniquely positioned to help address this challenge.”

“First, the university has capacity to significantly grow its enrollment,” he said. “And second, between 40 percent and 50 percent of non-resident students who graduate from UNI take jobs in the state of Iowa.”

Projecting a “sevenfold” impact from the lower tuition rates “once this initiative is fully implemented,” UNI has calculated enrollment could grow from 443 students from those states to 3,101 — producing 910 degrees and 364 new transplant workers.

“Achieving these results require that UNI publicize the tuition rates so that it will be found in internet searches and AI-generated responses to college costs as guidance counselors, prospective students, and their parents begin their journey of applying to and enrolling at a university,” Nook said, warning “the first few years of this initiative will cost the university significantly.”

‘Cost the university’

Anticipating no significant enrollment increase this fall and about 160 new entering students from the six states who’ll now pay substantially less, Nook said, “this cost will continue to grow as more students are added each year.”

“But that increasing cost will be offset to a degree by the tuition generated by the additional students who would not have come to UNI without the lower tuition rate,” he said. “The result is that the university needs approximately $1.5 million per year for the next few years to close this financial gap.”

Eventually, though, “after the initial startup period, enrollment should grow to the point that this new revenue will cover financial gap and provide the resources necessary to cover the additional costs.”

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Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com