Undergraduate resident students will have no increase in their tuition next school year.

An education budget report signed by the Iowa House and Senate Wednesday night includes the requested four percent increase in state funds for each regent university for the tuition freeze.

The Board of Regents voted to approve the tuition freeze in the fall 2013 semester.

This is the second consecutive year tuition for resident undergraduates has froze, making it the third consecutive year of the same tuition rate of $3,324 for most majors per semester at Iowa State.

The vote was 28 in favor and 21 against in the senate. The bill passed 90-8 in the house.

“I am thrilled,” Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said.

Quirmbach said the freeze is important for keeping college affordable, decreasing student debt, while still maintaining the quality at the universities.

“I think we can do all three,” Quirmbach said.

Iowa is ranked sixth in the nation in terms of student debt.

The budget includes an additional $2.6 million in special funding to University of Northern Iowa. About 90 percent of the student body is Iowa resident and would experience the tuition freeze, so additional financial support for the university may be needed. 

Quirmbach said thanks to Government of Student Body leaders and all students who contacted the Iowa legislature in support of the tuition freeze.