Regents will consider 3.75 percent tuition increase next year

IOWA CITY - A proposed 3.75 percent increase to base tuition for students at Iowa's regent universities next year is unlikely to get pushback from student leaders, who say they understand the need for a reasonable increase.

“I believe it's the lowest in three years,” said Elliot Higgins, president of the University of Iowa Student Government, on Friday after the proposals were announced. “While I do think it's important to keep tuition low, due to inflation ... I think the proposed increase is reasonable.”

In-state undergraduate students at the UI, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa would pay an increased 3.75 percent, or about $240 more, next year in base tuition under a proposal to be discussed next week by the state Board of Regents. The board meets Wednesday and Thursday in Cedar Falls.

The proposed increase would result in base tuition of $6,678 at the UI and $6,648 at ISU and UNI. Mandatory fees also would increase at the UI and UNI, by 3.75 percent and 4.78 percent, respectively. ISU's mandatory fees would not increase.

Higher education inflation, based on the Higher Education Price Index, for 2012-13 is forecast for 2.6 percent to 4.2 percent, so the proposed tuition increase is in line with that, said ISU Government of the Student Body President Dakota Hoben.

“It's hard to argue from that standpoint,” said Hoben, a senior from Grandview. “I don't see significant pushback with that amount.”

UNI is in a tougher budget situation this year than ISU and the UI due to its greater reliance on in-state students and state funding. UNI Student Government President Spencer Walrath said because UNI faces program cuts this year, students understand the need for a tuition increase.

But Walrath, a senior from Cedar Rapids, said UNI students feel the money should not necessarily be coming from them. Students would like to see the regents and Iowans take a tougher stance with the Legislature about higher education funding, he said.

“We pay over 50 percent of our public education. We feel these costs should not be placed on the backs of students,” he said. “We need to chip in our fair share, but I think the general consensus is we are now paying more than our fair share.”

Sophie Stephenson, a 21-year-old UI junior from Dubuque, said the proposed increase isn't so bad compared to past years.

“We've had bigger,” she said. “It is just more money added to my loans, but I don't think it's horrible.”

Other UI students said they disagree with increasing tuition after years of increases. They said it will increase student loan debt and place a burden on families.

“I feel like it's already expensive enough,” said Sarah Yount, a 21-year-old UI senior from Bloomington, Ill. “I know my parents struggle helping pay for it.”

Under the plan, out-of-state undergraduates would pay 4.75 percent more in base tuition at the UI, 2.63 percent more at ISU and 3.75 percent more at UNI.

The board last spring approved a 5 percent base tuition increase for the current academic year. With mandatory fees included, the increases this year were 4.7 percent at the UI, 7 percent at ISU and 4.9 percent at UNI.