The Iowa Board of Regents is likely to accept an average 8.3 percent tuition increase for the next academic year at their meeting Wednesday.

The approval would raise tuition and fees $398 for resident undergraduates, $758 for nonresident undergraduates, $486 for resident graduate students and $936 for nonresident graduate students at Iowa State.

The regents have seemed supportive of the proposed tuition increase and there has been no hint the recommendation will not be approved, said Barbara Boose, communications specialist for the Board of Regents.

“I haven’t heard anything, but I doubt if it will [change],” Boose said.

University presidents and student body presidents from the three regent universities — Iowa State University, University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa — have had the opportunity to voice their opinions at the previous two regents meetings since the increase recommendation was announced Oct. 9.

While both groups have been in support of the proposed increase, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy warned the acceptance of the proposed increase would make Iowa State unable to grant salary increases without full funding by the legislature next spring.

The university presidents and student body presidents will have the chance to give their opinion one last time before the regents approve a tuition increase. Student Government Relations Director Angela Groh will be presenting on behalf of ISU Government of the Student Body President Mike Banasiak, who is unable to attend the meeting at the University of Northern Iowa.

Groh said she hopes her message will encourage the Board of Regents to enforce, and not raise, the tuition recommendation.

“We hope it will be a simple vote and a simple procedure,” she said. “We think it is important for them to know that we understand the need for the tuition increase; however, we want to stress that we don’t want to see the tuition increase any more than what was already recommended.”

Groh said she will also stress the importance of collaboration between the student bodies, university presidents and the Board of Regents in lobbying the legislature to ensure education remains a priority in Iowa.

She will also be discussing possible implications of the “Tuition Stability Act,” proposed by Rep. Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, she said. The act would guarantee freshmen the same tuition rate during four years of higher education.

Over the past three years, the Board of Regents has approved 51.6 percent in increases for resident undergraduates. The major factor contributing to large tuition increases has been reduction in state funding.

Following near-20 percent increases during the past two years, a 7.9 percent increase for resident undergraduates at Iowa State was proposed by the Board Office to maintain quality at the universities while answering dwindling freshman enrollment numbers which may have been the result of the tuition hikes, said Gregory Nichols, executive director of the Board of Regents.