The Iowa Board of Regents discussed raising tuition and fees for fiscal year 2013 at its meeting Thursday.

The board said it has received $144 million in permanent cuts from state funding, but raising tuition would cover the cost of inflation, not the cost of state funding losses.

The average of the regents’ tuition increase would be $240, less than the national average of nearly $600.

ISU Government of the Student Body President Dakota Hoben said he hadn’t received any complaints about the proposed increase from students.

“As students we understand the difficult times. We have pushed and squeezed our state budget, and we understand the idea of shared sacrifice,” Hoben said.

Regent Ruth Harkin said she always has a hard time supporting tuition increases, especially this year, because students and their families’ abilities to pay back the loans is decreasing.

The Regents will vote on tuition increases in December.