The Board of Regents is expected to adopt a plan this week that could make tuition rates lower and more predictable, but only if the plan finds support in the Iowa Legislature.

Without the Legislature’s full support of the plan, Iowa State and other regents’ institutions have the permission to request differential tuition for students beginning in the 2005—06 school year. Differential tuition means students could be charged different amounts of money depending on, for example, their major or year in school.

At its Thursday meeting in Cedar Falls, the Board of Regents will discuss a proposed partnership with the Iowa Legislature that could ensure a funding increase of $40 million to Iowa’s public universities over the next four years.

With this funding increase, the board would hold base tuition increases to about 4 percent every year of the plan — the lowest yearly increases since 2000. This inflationary figure is derived from the Higher Education Price Index, which calculates the inflation rate of the price of college.

“We fully anticipate it will be given formal approval,” said Gregory Nichols, Board of Regents executive director. “State funds toward education have been cut back over the last few years, and the board has had to increase tuition more than they would have otherwise … Now that the state’s economy appears to be stabilizing and state revenues seem to be going up, we’d like the Legislature to begin to reinvest money that the has been cut in the past.”

The $40 million would go toward increasing class offerings, developing new research programs and enabling the state’s universities to offer nationally competitive salaries to recruit and retain faculty members, university administrators said.

Iowa State is expected to receive $15.4 million of the $40 million. Iowa taxpayers would have to pay an additional $14 each year to fund the annual increases.

Nichols said the plan doesn’t ask only the Legislature and taxpayers to make sacrifices — the plan would also require the universities as a whole to reallocate $20 million each year within their own departments, programs and activities to fill needs and support the schools’ strategic initiatives.

There is no guarantee this plan will be accepted by the Legislature, Nichols said, but regents have already been working with legislators on the plan.

“We’re trying to explain the plan to people and the benefits of it and hope to get it moved up on the agenda to get this approved,” he said. “We’re cautious but optimistic that we’ll get a positive response from both parties and the executive branch.”

The new tuition policy the board approved at its September meeting allowing Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa to request differential tuition rates for their students, Nichols said, is a backup plan the universities may use if full funding from the Legislature doesn’t come through.

“We won’t know one way or the other until spring. In theory, they could bring anything forward,” he said. “But we’re not really focused on that right now because we’re hopeful that we won’t have to deal with that at all.”

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said he believes the success of the board’s plan depends on the strength of the state’s revenues when the Legislature convenes in January. He said he has always been in favor of restoring funding to the universities, but his main goal is tuition relief for students and their families.

“I think we should freeze tuition and fees for a year,” he said. “I do favor new funds for the university, but my priority is in tuition relief and I don’t think the regents’ proposal does an adequate job on that.”

Mark Chidister, assistant to the president for budget planning and analysis, said ISU President Gregory Geoffroy is supportive of the board’s plan.

“Every department is developing reallocation plans right now,” Chidister said. “They’re looking to places where, if a particular activity is of lower priority, they can shift money to higher priority activities.”

The university currently has no plans to request differential tuition increases, he said, but it will consider the option if the Legislature doesn’t approve the full amount of funding.

Government of the Student Body Vice President Will Rock said he is also in support of the plan. Just in case the university needs to discuss differential tuition, however, a way to do that was recently put in place in the student fees committee, which has student, faculty and administrative members

— Daily staff reports contributed to this article