COUNCIL BLUFFS — Only two of the three of Iowa’s public universities presidents supported the establishment of a differentiated tuition system at Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting, setting the stage for debate among administrators about the idea’s future.

Recommendations from the board office to allow Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa to charge different tuition rates were supported by administrators at Iowa and Iowa State. However, Robert Koob, University of Northern Iowa president, said he did not think it would be good for Iowa universities to charge different tuition levels.

“There’s a very strong perception among students and parents that they can get a comparable quality education at all three institutions,” Koob said.

He believed that if tuition between the three universities was differentiated, it could lead to the belief UNI was offering a lower quality product, Koob said.

Regent David Neil of La Porte City said he felt differentiating tuition would just shift problems onto the students.

“What’s driving this is the lack of public funding,” Neil said. “We make the fight to fund public education, but we just shift the Band-Aids somewhere else.”

David Skorton, University of Iowa president, said he had mixed feelings on the issue. He agreed with Koob, but also understood that the cost structures of the universities were different, he said.

He believed the best alternative would be a differentiated tuition system that charges upper-division students more than lower-division students, he said.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said he wanted to strongly urge the option of charging students by program.

Before going forward with any plans, he said, it was important to look around the country and see what is being done at other universities and to make sure there’s a viable option on the table. Programs such as engineering have higher operating costs than others, which means it can be stressful for universities to properly maintain those programs, he said.

Regent Mary Ellen Becker of Oskaloosa said she had problems with plans to charge by program because it could negatively impact students.

“I really am concerned by the impact on students who come in and don’t know what they want to do,” Becker said.

Any plans to charge by program would affect students in upper-level programs, so incoming students could consider the higher cost programs before the extra charges are incurred, Geoffroy said.

“I’d hate to send the message that we are, in effect, discouraging young people from taking those courses,” said regent Robert Downer of Iowa City.

Universities already using differentiated tuition plans based on program, such as Tulane University, have very high enrollments in those high-cost programs, Geoffroy said.

The programs also have a very high enrollment rate right now, Skorton said. Students in these programs would have their aid adjusted to show that their programs cost more than others, he said.

Regent Jenny Rokes, a UNI student, said even though students would have financial aid, the higher costs of the programs may still discourage students from enrolling in them.

Regent Owen Newlin of Des Moines offered a compromise between the current policy and the proposed tuition plans.

Newlin said he thought it might be a good idea to keep tuition rates the same at all three universities for freshman and sophomore students.

“Newlin has a creative idea for the flat playing field for the first two years,” Board of Regents president John Forsyth of Des Moines said.

Koob said the best plan of action right now would be for the three presidents to meet and discuss what plans would benefit the universities the most and to try to clear up any problems that exist.

“We need to understand where differences in cost arise, and if students should pay for the cost differential,” he said.