More than 200,000 resident undergraduates at the University of Missouri recently sued and won a case involving wrongly charged tuition.

ISU students have no reason to worry about a similar situation here, university officials say.

According to KansasCity.com, the plaintiffs claimed the university had broken a 1939 Missouri state law by charging “educational fees” they felt were no different from tuition.

The law, which originated from a 19th century pro-farm doctrine, awards free tuition to qualified undergraduates from agricultural states like Missouri.

Judge Kenneth M. Romines ruled that the university had been breaking state law since 1986 by charging the “educational fees.”

Warren Madden, vice president for Business and Finance, said he is unaware of a similar law applying to Iowa State.

“Obviously Iowa State has a series of tuition and fees that are set by the Board of Regents,” he said.

Madden said he is not aware of anyone ever challenging tuition charges.

However, he said some groups have tried to have fees waived.

“From time to time there have been organizations that have wanted the Board of Regents to waive fees,” Madden said.

The Board of Regents and Iowa State usually stand firmly behind fees and tuition charges, he said.

“We don’t usually waive fees for anyone — employees or family of employees,” Madden said.

T.J. Schneider, Government of the Student Body president, said students would have the same rights Missouri students had to explore the problem if it arose.

“I think the first right of any student would be to investigate,” he said.

Kathy Jones, registrar at Iowa State, said if a student were to question past fees and tuition, the Office of the Registrar would answer the request as efficiently as possible. “If we got told we had to do something, we’d find a way to get it done,” she said.

Jones said the university keeps records of all fees and tuition paid by students in files and microfiche.

Earl Dowling, director of financial aid, said he has never waived tuition for farm families and no tuition exemptions exist for ISU students from agricultural backgrounds.