University of Iowa, Iowa State propose 3 percent tuition increase for instate undergrads

Instate undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University would see a 3-percent tuition increase next fall under a proposal going next week before the Board of Regents.

The University of Northern Iowa also wants a 3-percent bump for its resident graduate students, but has limited its increase for instate undergrads to 2.7 percent, according to a proposal going to the regents for a first consideration this month and final approval in June.

Additionally, UNI for the first time has proposed a new rate for undergraduate students coming from Iowa’s six bordering states that is slightly below its proposed $20,950 base tuition for all other non-residents. If approved, undergraduate students from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota would pay $20,340 — which remains far above UNI’s proposed base resident tuition of $8,792.

The general 3-percent hike proposed for most students echoes a bill introduced this legislative session that would have capped the annual tuition and fees increase for instate students at the public universities at 3 percent — but kept it frozen through graduation or for up to four years.

The bill was amended to instead require the regents to study a policy freezing tuition at the rate a student paid in his or her first academic year — with results of the study due Nov. 30. That bill was placed under “unfinished business” for lawmakers to revisit.

“Funding from the proposed tuition increases will help address growing financial challenges including inflationary cost increases, recruiting and retaining faculty and staff in national markets, health care, meeting collective bargaining terms, deferred maintenance needs in academic facilities, and student financial aid to provide higher education opportunities to more students,” according to the proposal.

Rate increases under the proposal vary for non-resident students — a population that’s been growing in recent years, bouncing up 4 percent year-over-year in the fall to 24,494, which is 16 percent higher than a decade earlier in 2014.

The UI — which has seen its out-of-state enrollment surge 16 percent since 2021, closing the gap with instate students and reaching 12,334 by 2024, a new high in recent history — has proposed keeping non-resident tuition increases for both undergraduate and graduate students to about 1 percent.

By doing that, UI would offer the same dollar increase to both residents and non-residents — amounting to $279 at the undergrad level and $350 at the grad level.

ISU and UNI, on the other hand, have proposed larger rate and dollar increases for out-of-state students at the undergraduate level — amounting to 4.5 percent or a $1,232 increase at ISU and a 3 percent or $610 hike at UNI.

If regents approve the proposal in June, the following tuition rates would apply:

Those expenses don’t include mandatory fees — which the universities also are asking to increase 1.7 percent at ISU, 2.7 percent at UNI and 3 percent at UI.

And they don’t factor in “differential rates” for higher priced programs — like the proposed 11 percent increase to bring ISU instate business sophomores in line with resident business majors in the upper division.

And the UI Radiation Sciences Program of the Carver College of Medicine wants a tuition increase of $703 for on-campus resident and non-resident undergraduates.

“This is the last year of a three-year phase-in of tuition increases to ultimately reach a balanced budget,” according to the tuition proposal. “The program is essential to UI’s mission and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, as it provides health care personnel in the areas of diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy. There are critical shortages of these health care personnel.”

The UI College of Medicine more broadly wants a 3 percent increase for resident and non-resident rates, after keeping rates frozen for the last five years.

“Inflation impacts higher education in the same manner it affects other segments of the economy,” according to the tuition proposal. “While the board determines tuition increases well in advance of the actual expenditure of funds, the board considers inflation’s impact in evaluating tuition and fee rates.”

The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 12 reported core inflation was 3.1 percent for the 12 months ending in February.

Should regents approve the proposed rate increases, the three campuses expect to generate $42 million in incremental revenue — about 2.4 percent of the general education operating budget.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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