It took the Board of Regents approximately five minutes to discuss and approve a raise tuition for the upcoming year.

During a meeting where most members participated via telephone, the Regents approved a 4 percent tuition increase for the 2006-07 school year Tuesday at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

“We have supported the tuition increases that were proposed and I am pleased that the Regents have approved them,” said ISU President Gregory Geoffroy. “I think it creates a good balance between providing the university the resources that we need to keep our programs strong and at the same time keeping tuition affordable for our students.”

Annual undergraduate tuition will increase by $196 for residents and $600 for nonresidents. Resident graduate students will pay an additional $228 and nonresidents will pay an additional $630 per year.

A $250 per semester surcharge will be applied to junior- and senior-level engineering students, the first policy of its kind for undergraduates at Iowa’s public universities.

Despite the approval, Iowa City Regent Robert Downer said he would like to see a defined framework for evaluating potential future tuition surcharge proposals.

“It seems to me that there are many similarities between the Colleges of Engineering and Design at Iowa State and that we might see an increase request there,” he said. “I just want to see some policy framework developed, which we evaluate these increases to that we are not backed into a corner or appear to be with respect to future proposed increases.”

Geoffroy said despite the potential for adding surcharges to other programs, no expansion of tuition surcharges has been proposed or considered.

“There has not been any discussion of that yet on our campus and if there were any discussion, it would have to be evaluated on its own merits,” he said.

Regents President Michael Gartner said the tuition increases prove the Regents Partnership Plan for Transformation and Excellence works.

The plan aims to make moderate annual tuition rate increases when the institutions regain an additional $40 million of state funding lost from budget cuts in the past.

“Everybody seems pleased with the way it worked in the past year and we have a good story to tell,” he said.

“The governor has said he buys into the transformation program, and so we are going to march ahead and see how we do.”

College of Veterinary Medicine annual tuition will climb more than 15 percent, to $14,634 for residents and to $34,972 for nonresidents – nearly a 12 percent increase.

Student services fees will rise to $201 for the next academic year, a $13 increase.

The additional funds will benefit CyRide and on-campus student activities.

Computer science students’ computer fees will increase $54 to $401 annually to purchase additional technology.

Iowa State’s resident and nonresident tuition rate ranks ninth among its 11 peer land grant institutions.

Resident undergraduate tuition will increase 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent for nonresidents at the University of Iowa and will rise 4 percent for all students at Northern Iowa.

This is the first year the Board of Regents has approved different tuition rates for each institution in the state.