Tuition increase of 1.75 percent proposed for undergraduate Iowans

IOWA CITY - After freezing tuition for undergraduate resident students at Iowa's public universities for two straight years, the Board of Regents is proposing a 1.75 percent increase for the 2015-16 academic year.

That increase would bump up the price of tuition for undergraduate Iowans by $116 at all three public universities - to $6,794 at UI and $6,764 at ISU and UNI, according to regent documents.

The tuition proposal, scheduled for discussion at the Board of Regents' meeting next week on the UI campus, also includes increases for non-resident undergraduate students - 1.75 percent at UI and UNI and 1.2 percent at ISU.

The proposed increases are the same for resident and nonresidents at each school at the graduate and professional level.

Including the price of room and board, ancillary costs, and proposed mandatory fee increases of 1.8 percent at UI, .4 percent at ISU, and 6.2 percent at UNI, the total cost of attendance for resident undergraduates is expected to average $19,663 in the next school year.

UI students are expected to pay the most at $20,335, followed by ISU at $19,456, and UNI at $19,198. But the increase in total cost from this year to next is expected to be highest for ISU, which is projecting a 2.2 percent increase to its total price, compared with 1.7 percent at UNI and .7 percent at UI.

The Board of Regents Office used inflation percentages projected by the Higher Education Price Index to help develop its proposal for tuition and fee increases.

In September, after reviewing its proposed spending and funding plans, the Board of Regents agreed to ask the legislature for a 1.75 percent increase in state allocations for general university operating support. The board also is working to secure an additional $12.9 million in state money for the next school year to support its new performance-based funding model that ties 60 percent of allocations to in-state enrollment.

If lawmakers don't approve that $12.9 million request, those funds would come out of UI's allocations and be redistributed among ISU and UNI.

The board's proposed tuition increases at the undergraduate and graduate levels are expected to bring in $14.5 million in additional revenue and financial aid. After allocating funds for financial aid, incremental net tuition revenues are expected to total $12 million, according to regent documents.

Enrollment increases projected for the 2016 budget year could add another $18 million in gross tuition revenues. And, according to regent documents, half the potential increase due to enrollment is expected in non-resident undergraduate students at ISU.

Despite the proposed increase, all three universities boast the lowest or near lowest tuition and fee rates in their peer groups for both resident and non-resident undergraduates, according to regent documents.

Over the past five years - from the 2009 budget year to the 2014 budget year - Iowa's average annual increase in tuition and fees for undergraduate resident students has been 3 percent, below the national average increase of 5.4 percent. Iowa kept its average low by holding tuition at the same level for three years - something that hadn't been done since 1975.

For the current academic year, undergraduate tuition makes up 75 percent of tuition revenue at UI, 84 percent at ISU, and 92 percent at UNI. Residents account for 40 percent of total tuition revenue systemwide, with UI getting 36 percent of its tuition revenue from residents, ISU getting 37.3 percent, and UNI getting 79.9 percent.

Tuition revenues comprise 60.7 percent of the combined operating budgets of the three regent universities.