Following a national trend of increased costs for higher education and decreased government funding, the Iowa Board of Regents unanimously approved a 4 percent tuition increase for the next academic year.

Tuition at public four-year universities in the nation increased an average of 10.5 percent this year, according to an annual survey on trends in college pricing by the College Board, a non-profit membership association of colleges and universities. The survey states that the increase is the second largest in more than a decade. Last year’s 13 percent increase was the largest.

Of the nearly 2,700 colleges and universities included in the study, for the first time the average tuition at the nation’s public universities has surpassed $5,000.

While the College Board did not try to determine the reasons for these steep increases in tuition, the study cites recent declines in state appropriations for higher education. Appropriations per full-time equivalent student decreased by 9 percent between 2000-01 and 2002-2003, accounting for inflation.

In Iowa, state appropriations funded 48.9 percent of university costs in the current academic year, compared to 77.4 percent in 1981. The percentage of tuition revenue funding university expenditures has steadily risen from 20.8 percent to 44.2 percent, according to Regents documents.

Although the 4 percent increase, approved Dec. 16, is the smallest since the 1998-1999 school year, with students having to shoulder back to back tuition increases during the past four years, a 4 percent increase could still be cumbersome for many. Although financial aid has increased as well, it has not kept pace with rising costs, according to studies conducted by both the Board of Regents and the College Board.

Among the 12 states in its peer group, Iowa State is third, next to North Carolina and Arizona, in affordable tuition, according to the Washington Higher Education Coordination Board.