Board of Regents Approve Tuition Increase at State Universities

The Iowa State Board of Regents approved a 3.75 tuition hike for resident students of its three state universities in a regular meeting Thursday.

That increase would boost tuition by $240 at both and the University of Iowa for a total of $6,648. The University of Iowa's tuition would increase by $242 to $6,678 in the next school year, as reported in the Iowa City Press Citizen.

Base in-state tuition with all fees would be $7,725 at ISU, $8,057 at the University of Iowa and $7,635 at UNI in the fall of 2012, according to Board of Regents documents.

The board voted 7-1 in favor of the increase, as reported in the Gazette.

Craig Lang did not attend. Regent Ruth Harkin of Cumming was the only one to vote against the increase.

She said Iowan's incomes have not increased along with inflation.

“I think this is a tough time for them to have to incur further expense if they have students at the universities,” Harkin said. “I just hope that next year we’ll be able to work harder to find better solutions.”

Out-of-state students will see a 4.75 percent increase.

According to board documents, the increases were necessary because the schools have lost $144 million in permanent cuts since FY2009. The tuition increase will not make up for that loss, rather it would be directed toward the support of “student-centered education efforts to increase retention, timely graduation and other student success initiatives,” board documents said.