The Board of Regents will weigh in Thursday on legislation that would push the date for setting tuition as much as four months later than now required.

The board currently sets tuition for the following year in November. A bill now before the Iowa House calls for tuition to be set in February, with March as a statutory deadline. The board office has recommended approval of the change in tuition timing.

The state revenue estimating conference meets in December and provides indications of the amount the universities could be allocated by the state based on overall state revenues.

Barb Boose, communications director for the Board of Regents, said while the revenue estimating conference’s figures don’t give exact numbers for education appropriations, they can provide the universities with a direction to lean toward when setting tuition.

“If the regents had that added piece of information, it would help them make a more informed tuition decision,” Boose said.

However, one regent said there are drawbacks to the change needed to be addressed as well.

Regent Robert Downer of Iowa City said the move could hold up financial aid decisions. Financial aid is set shortly after tuition.

Downer said Iowa schools set tuition rates earlier than a number of other universities, allowing financial aid assessments to be made earlier.

“That’s one of the potential problems that I want to be sure about,” Downer said. “There is some information to the effect that if we do it on this time schedule, that that’s not going to make the Iowa institutions appreciatively different than others in terms of financial aid decisions.”

Boose said delaying setting tuition too late could leave students at a disadvantage because it will leave them less time to plan for their financial needs.

“The board office is hopeful if [students] know as late as March what the coming tuition will be, [they] will still have time to plan [their] finances,” she said.

According to the bill before the legislature, tuition should be set in February, but in unusual circumstances, such as mid-year budget cuts or an unexpected report from the revenue estimating conference, the decision could be pushed back to March.

Boose said the bill states the board cannot make its final tuition decision during spring break so students will be able to comment on the decision.

The board will also review how universities reserve tuition money for financial aid. Currently, universities are required to use at least 15 percent of their gross tuition revenues for student financial aid. Boose said a discussion will be held concerning putting additional conditions on that 15 percent, including reserving no less than half for undergraduates, no less than half of the undergraduate proportion to resident students and no less than half of the undergraduate proportion to students based on need. Last year, the emphasis was focused solely on need-based aid.

Boose said these changes are designed to benefit Iowans.

“We are state universities, established and funded significantly by the taxpayers of the state of Iowa,” she said.

Discussion on changing the basis for charging tuition, such as charging different amounts by major or classification, will be delayed until later this spring.

The Board of Regents will meet Wednesday and Thursday in Iowa City.