IOWA CITY – The Iowa Board of Regents will consider the proposed conditional tuition and mandatory fees for the 2014-2015 academic year this week at a meeting in Iowa City.
Board action is expected to be taken on these proposals during the December 2013 Board meeting.
The Board of Regents advocates for adequate support for Regent institutions (Iowa State University, The University of Iowa, and Northern Iowa University) from all sources for high-quality, accessible educational opportunities for Iowans, research and scholarship, service activities, and economic development efforts.
For the last five years, from FY 2009 to FY 2014, the average annual increase in tuition and mandatory fees for undergraduate resident students has been 3.9% compared to a national increase of 5.9%. For the first time in three decades, FY 2014 tuition rates for these students were held at the same level as the previous year.
Tuition revenues now comprise 60% of the combined operating budgets of the Regent universities.
At its September 2013 meeting, the Board reviewed the proposed spending and funding plans that support strategic goals and maximize available resources, and approved the request for FY 2015 state appropriations. The requested 4% increase from the Iowa Legislature for General University operating support allowed for inflation as projected by the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) and advocates for a second year of no increase in tuition for undergraduate resident students. If this request is successful, it would be the first time since 1975 that tuition rates did not change for three years.
The Board of Regents is committed to working with state government to secure the requested additional appropriations. Based on funding actions of the legislature, tuition rates may be adjusted subsequent to the 2014 legislative session.
To evaluate proposed tuition and fee increases, the Board’s policy uses the inflationary percentage range of the projected Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), which is 1.8% to 3.2% for FY 2015. The median of this projected range is 2.5%.The universities are proposing to increase undergraduate nonresident tuition within or, in the case of Iowa State University, below the HEPI range.
I don’t mind the idea of a tuition freeze, as long as the colleges don’t try to make up for the shortfall by asking for state or federal aid. Colleges should be self supporting, just like any business. If they can’t or don’t make it on their own, then they should fail.
@anonymous-I completely agree with your statements. If they didn’t pay for all the stuff that has nothing to do with education they could afford to drop their prices on everything. I know a guy who is a scientist with a university and he only teaches 3 months out of the year and pulls down over 200K p/yr. The rest of the year he travels the world on a expense account. He is a smart guy and is a expert in his field and that is great, but why should we pay for it.