Tuition for Iowa’s public universities will be debated and decided at the October meeting of the Board of Regents, but discussion and speculation have already begun.

At the Sept. 17 board meeting, Regent Craig Lang, of Brooklyn, voiced his support of a 5 to 6 percent tuition increase to counteract budget cuts.

Regents President David Miles said he is pleased Lang started the dialogue, adding he will wait for feedback from the State Revenue Estimating Conference before forming his own opinion on tuition.

“I’m very pleased that Regent Lang has made the vigorous case … for the quality of our institutions. We need to protect that quality,” Miles said.

However, Miles said student finances must be kept in mind.

Lang’s comments, Miles said, were a “very constructive start to the process, but certainly not the end.”

The process formally begins at the regents’ October meeting, Miles said. Students will have an opportunity for discussion and to give the regents feedback between the October and December meetings, he said.

Vice President for Business and Finance Warren Madden said the university is in the process of reviewing calculations to submit to the regents in October, when ISU President Geoffroy will, along with the other regents’ universities presidents, make his recommendation for tuition adjustments.

The regents will also ask the student body president to make recommendations, said Jonathan Turk, Government of the Student Body President and senior in political science. At the December meeting, Turk said, the regents will “rubber-stamp” their decision.

Turk said he and his staff will meet with the other universities’ student governments and ISU student organizations in the weeks before the October meeting. When they have arrived at the number they think is appropriate, Turk said, they will present it to GSB.

Turk serves on the Special Student Fees and Tuition Committee, which Madden chairs. Turk said the committee will recommend a 0 percent increase in mandatory assessed student fees for the fiscal year 2010–2011. Geoffroy must review the recommendation before it is made to the regents, but Madden said he believes the president will accept it. However, Turk said “like tuition, the regents have the final say.”

Madden said the Regents’ policy is to use the Higher Education Price Index, or HEPI, to determine resident tuition rates. The midpoint HEPI recommendation is a 2.7 percent increase, which Turk said would be the lowest increase in the last 30 years.

“Regent Lang indicated he potentially might support a higher increase, but I don’t believe any other regents have said anything,” Madden said.

The concern in this economic environment, Madden said, is that students are under more financial stress and people are worried about cost. Madden said there must be a “balance between cost and maintaining quality.”

Turk also expressed concerns with the economic climate.

“These are tough economic times,” Turk said, adding that access and affordability are major issues for the universities.

However, Turk said “We are in such a severe budget crisis, with rumors of a mid-year budget revision.”

Turk said he thinks a 5 to 6 percent increase is too high. He said he would be more comfortable with a “mid-HEPI increase” that would stabilize the university without cutting majors and programs.

“The university is just like any other kind of … complex organization,” Turk said. “There is not 100 percent efficiency. If we want to maintain access and affordability … we have to keep those costs as low as possible.”

Madden pointed out that this year might be a peak in enrollment, explaining that high school classes in Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota are getting smaller. He mentioned the concern of raising out-of-state tuition too much and losing students, therefore losing revenue. On the other hand, Madden said, international student numbers are going up. Madden said all of this data is being analyzed.

Iowa state senator and associate professor in economics Herman Quirmbach serves on the Education Committee in the state Senate. Quirmbach said the Board of Regents sets the tuition rate in anticipation of what will come from the legislature. Due to a change within the past few years, Quirmbach said the regents can change tuition after the legislation meets.

“I hope that the tuition rate they set this fall is a number they can stick with,” Quirmbach said, and added that it would be an “unhappy surprise” for students to make plans to attend Iowa State based on one number, only to find out it has changed.

It will be a “tough budget year,” Quirmbach said.

“Money will be hard to come by,” he said.

Quirmbach acknowledged that the tuition increase might have to be higher this year than in the past.

In regards to his Senate position, Quirmbach said, “I’m going to be fighting for every dollar we can get for the university this year.”