A bill delaying the tuition-setting date for the Board of Regents by four months passed unanimously through the Iowa House Tuesday, but a request by the Board of Regents for eliminating any deadline was refused.

The bill, which has been assigned to the Education Committee in the Senate, would move the regents’ deadline for setting tuition from November to March.

The shift would delay the vote until after the state revenue estimating conference meets in December, giving regents an indication of the amount the universities could be allocated by the state based on overall state revenues.

At the board’s February meeting, the regents expressed an interest in eliminating any deadline. Regent John Forsyth of Des Moines said it was always in the best interest of the board to set tuition as early as possible.

“[The regents] would like to have total flexibility to set tuition,” said Assistant to the President Gary Steinke. “If they had to make adjustments or reduce tuition in some cases, if the appropriation was good, they could do all that [if the deadline were eliminated].”

Regents have raised concerns about the effect moving the deadline could have on financial aid, which is set shortly after tuition.

Barb Boose, communications specialist for the Board of Regents, said the regents are sensitive to making sure tuition is set in time for students to plan their finances for the year and for institutions to deal with financial aid awards.

“The idea of eliminating a statutory deadline is not to say that the board wants to set tuition in August — there’s broad agreement that that would not be beneficial to the institutions or the students,” she said.

Steinke said legislators have been supportive of the bill.

“It’s one of those policy decisions, I think, the reasons for doing it make some sense,” he said.

Steinke said he was unsure if the Iowa Senate would be more receptive than the House to eliminating the deadline altogether, but said it was something the universities would continue to pursue.