ISU and Board of Regents officials said a larger commitment is needed from legislators if Iowa’s three universities are to cap tuition increases, although allocations have increased from initial recommendations.

The Iowa House passed next year’s state budget late Wednesday night. The budget, which has been sent to the Senate for approval, would set aside a total of $923 million for education.

The Board of Regents received $616 million to fund Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa — a $12.6 million increase from this year’s budget.

The universities and the regents, however, have said a $40 million increase is needed if the institutions are to maintain quality educational programs, competitive faculty salaries and moderate tuition levels.

Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, offered an amendment to give the universities a $20 million budget increase.

“I feel like a lot of games are being played down here,” Wessel-Kroeschell said. “Two or three weeks ago, when we passed that out of the appropriations subcommittee, there wasn’t any more money. Now all of a sudden they have another $6 million to put into it.”

The committee had originally recommended only a $6 million increase for the universities.

Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, said she is afraid the bill would hinder access to education in the state.

“If we want to stay a top-of-the-line education system in Iowa, then we need the dollars to support that,” Heddens said.

The board passed a 4 percent tuition increase for the next academic year, based off of the rate of inflation determined by the Higher Education Price Index. The levels, however, were contingent upon receiving full funding from the Legislature.

If not fully funded, students could see an additional increase to next year’s tuition levels. The board changed its tuition policy in the fall to allow university presidents to come before the regents with requests for supplemental tuition increases to make up for shortfalls in state appropriations.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy was out of town and unavailable for comment for this article.

“I feel two ways about it. It’s better than what we’ve done in the past — a lot better. It’s also not everything we’d hoped for,” said Government of the Student Body Vice President William Rock. “Full funding will allow us to do a lot of things that need to be done.”

Rock urged legislators to make sure potential tuition increases will be affordable for students.

“We can’t afford to increase tuition beyond 4 percent and not see enrollment down again,” he said. “We already saw enrollment decrease by 1,000 this year, and I think tuition is a big part of it.”

Rock also pointed to how about 12,000 class seats have been cut over the past four years, resulting in the loss of 428 class sections.

“We are back on the right track, but we are not out of the woods,” he said.

Gov. Tom Vilsack included the regents’ $40 million in his budget proposal for next year, $20 million of which he divided out for faculty salary increases, which have not been funded by the Legislature since 1998. The House members budget did not factor in salary increases. “If you think about it, with the $20 million in a salary bill, that’s $32.6 million to the universities,” said Senate Republican Floor Leader Stewart Iverson, R-Dows.

Although the Senate’s budget is still unknown, Iverson said Senate Republicans are “in tune” with the House budget.

“We don’t have a money tree down here. I have to look at the entire budget for the state. I don’t have the luxury of being able to just look at the regents universities and give them whatever they ask, but we will do the best we can,” he said.

Senate Democrats have said they will back Vilsack’s recommendation and will push to fully fund the regents request.

“It’s completely inadequate,” said Senate Democratic Floor Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, adding that he will make an amendment in the Senate to add more money to the budget.

Regents and ISU officials said they are pleased to see an increase, but are still optimistic they will be able to obtain additional funds.

“The regents requested $40 million, and this is a start, but there is $28 million to go,” said Gary Steinke, deputy executive and public affairs director for the Board of Regents. “They are very supportive of the concept, but we’re not in the time of the year yet where anyone knows how much money they have.”

— The Associated Press

contributed to this article.