Regents take first step toward tuition increase

Students representing Iowa's public universities on Thursday told the Board of Regents they don't like the planned consecutive years of tuition increases - and they don't like how non-resident students are being disproportionally burdened by the rate hikes.

But the students said they understand higher education is facing unprecedented challenges in Iowa and nationally and thus reluctantly support the tuition-hike proposal - while also pressing state lawmakers to increase funding for the institutions.

'I believe the money that would be incurred from these increases is necessary for the university to continue operating at our existing level and remain competitive with other institutions,” University of Iowa Student Government President Rachel Zuckerman told the board. 'I would not be supporting an increase unless I truly believed it was necessary to retain the value of a University of Iowa degree.”

Regents on Thursday had their initial reading of proposed tuition rates for the 2017-18 school year, which include a 2 percent increase for resident undergraduate students. The board is scheduled to consider final approval in December.

Student leaders during the board's meeting asked regents to contemplate the undue burden the proposal places on non-resident students - who at UI, for example, face a $686 increase at the undergraduate level, compared to a $142 proposed increase for resident undergraduates.

The increases, if approved, would bring UI tuition to $28,052 for non-resident undergraduates and $7,270 at the resident undergraduate level. Similar gaps exist at both Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa.

Students also expressed concern about higher proposed tuition increases for graduate and professional students. UI graduate students from outside Iowa are facing a proposed $662 increase - bringing the total to $27,122 - compared to a $222 increase for resident graduate students, bringing the total to $9,078.

'While I recognize the need to bring revenue to the university, I want to talk about my fears and express the need to make sure the burden is shared by all of our students,” Zuckerman said.

She raised concern with the portion of the tuition proposal that increases rates further for some upperclassmen and students in technical programs costing more to provide.

'We must keep in mind that decisions like these can bar some students from their preferred academic pursuits, which is something we should all be avoiding whenever possible,” she said.

ISU Student Government President Cole Staudt concurrently highlighting the growing divide between resident and non-resident tuition as his 'greatest concern with what is before us today.”

'This is dangerous for our state,” Staudt said. 'The contributions that non-residents make to the educational experience is valuable.”

They provide racial and ethnic diversity in a predominantly white state, he said, noting the diversity allows Iowans on campus to 'explore new perspectives so everyone can begin to understand people who are not like them, which is essential in our ever changing world.”

'They infuse the economy in our communities with money, pay sales tax and property tax, and their tuition dollars help sustain thousands of jobs,” he said. 'Just because they don't grow up in Iowa, does not mean they don't stay in Iowa.”

In response, Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter pointed to other peer institutions across the country that cap enrollment and 'don't welcome very many out-of-state students.”

'I think our three do, and it is an excellent way to both have a revenue stream for the universities, have diversity of students,” he said. 'But, as I suggested to the students, at the end of the day these are public universities owned by the taxpayers of Iowa.”

He cited the role of the state's higher education appropriations in supplementing the cost to educate Iowans.

'When we think about the difference between in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition, I think one of the things that we forget about is that the parents and grandparents of students from Iowa have paid for these universities in their taxes for decades and generations,” Rastetter said.

Mental health fee

In considering the board's proposed mandatory student fee schedule - which increases costs by 2 percent at UI, 5.2 percent at ISU, and 2.6 percent at UNI - UISG President Zuckerman asked for a change in the proposed $10 increase in her institution's health fee.

Instead of that general health fee increase, she asked for a new, specific mental health-specific fee of $12.50. The existing UI health fee of $237 would remain unchanged, and the new fee would allow the university to hire an additional eight full counselors by 2018 'that we believe will help narrow the gap between university counseling services capacity and the realistic demand.”

'The University of Iowa is second lowest in the Big Ten for our ratio of number of counseling center staff to number of students, which creates long wait times and pressure on our existing mental health resources,” Zuckerman said.

UI President Bruce Harreld voiced support for that change, and Regent Rachael Johnson proposed a change in line with the UI request.