A tuition freeze for undergraduate resident students and new transparency practices for Iowa’s public universities and specialty schools are among the Board of Regents accomplishments of summer 2013.

The Board of Regents, a group of nine citizen volunteers appointed by the governor, worked with Iowa Legislature and Gov. Terry Branstad to approve a tuition freeze for undergraduate resident students, which begins this fall, for the first time in 30 years.

“I think that’s a reflection of the success of the last two years of stopping the funding losses of the legislature and the governor,” said Bruce Rastetter, president of the Board of Regents.

In addition to the tuition freeze, the board was given recommendations from the Transparency Task Force to increase transparency between Iowa’s public universities: Iowa State, University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa, Two specialty schools, Iowa School for the Deaf and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, also were included in the recommendations.

The Transparency Task Force had four public hearings for comments and concerns between April 17 and May 2, and three meetings between April 5 and June 19. The public hearings were designed to hear comments from concerned Iowans to help formulate recommendations for the schools to be more transparent with the public.

“We spent a lot of hours and got a lot of input from interested Iowans all over the state,” said Jack Lashier, director of the Iowa Hall of Pride and public member of the Transparency Task Force. “[We digested] all of the comments and input we received and put together those recommendations in the best possible way.”

At the final meeting, the force created recommendations to pass along to the Board of Regents for approval. The recommendations were unanimously approved at the Board of Regents meeting on Aug. 5.

The force recommended that each university and specialty school have a compliance officer to coordinate an open public meeting prior to each Board of Regents meeting for community members to comment on the board’s docket.

Each compliance officer will be in charge of public requests.

Rastetter said he was unsure if the universities and specialty schools would be ready before the next Board of Regents meeting on Sept. 11, which will be at Northern Iowa.

As for the next academic year, Rastetter said he looks forward to working with the three new committees within the Board of Regents.

The Regent Appropriations Committee will look at how the three universities’ funds have been distributed in the past. This committee also will be charged with working on performance funding based on four-year graduation rates.

“We think that’s an important priority,” Rastetter said. “We think we should attach dollars to that to incentivize to make sure that the better number of those dollars will follow to the up four year graduation rate.”

Larry McKibben, a board member from Marshalltown, Iowa, is pegged to head the Efficiency Committee that will look at various ways the universities can save money by working with the provosts’ offices to see what academic programs are initiated and what programs are terminated.

Milt Dakovich, a board member from Waterloo, Iowa, who is also new to the board, is said to lead the third committee, the Strategic Building and Planning Committee. The committee is designed to give the board a better understanding of why campus buildings cost as much as they do.

“These three committees in particular will make a major impact long term,” Rastetter said.

Although the committees show signs of positivity for the board, Rastetter said there will be challenges to face with the Legislature.

“We would like to think about if there is a way we can freeze tuition again next year,” Rastetter said. “That obviously depends on funding.”

Rastetter talked of the growing enrollment, especially at Iowa State and Iowa.

“The record enrollment is exciting, yet challenging, because the campuses are full, and we need to make sure the quality of education stays there,” Rastetter said.

The variety of newly planned committees and securing funding are key priorities.

“I think students should know that we’re focused on the cost of college education. We think it’s critical that it be both affordable … and [give] the ability to graduate in four years,” Rastetter said.

The board’s top priority is continuing the mission of the universities.

“The reality of it is: The reason the universities exist is because of the students and [their] ability to obtain higher education,” Rastetter said. “We want to make sure it’s affordable and the student debt issue is long term, at best.”