The Board of Regents voted 7-2 on Thursday to increase tuition $650 per year for resident students and $1,300 per year for nonresident students.

When added together with an increase in mandatory fees, the total cost of attendance will rise 22.3 percent in Fall 2003 for undergraduate residents.

This is the second significant tuition hike students have seen in two years. The board increased tuition 18.5 percent last year without the mandatory fees.

Many of the regents expressed sympathy for students and their families, but said the lack of money set aside for education by the Iowa Legislature had left them with few options.

“Nobody likes debt,” said Regent David Fisher of West Des Moines, who voted for the proposal. “But if there’s a good return, we do it, and certainly the return on an education is a big one over a lifetime.”

Owen Newlin, president of the Board of Regents, issued a statement regarding the tuition increases.

“As members of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, we regret that significant cuts in state funding forced us today to choose between reducing service to Iowans and asking our students and their families to bear an additional financial burden,” he said.

“Iowa’s public universities are our state’s most powerful, comprehensive resource for both educational opportunity and economic growth. During the last 20 years, however, students’ share of public higher education costs has nearly doubled, while the state’s share has dropped by 25 percent. It is critical that funding levels are adequate to allow the universities to maintain both continued high quality and accessibility.”

Regent Deb Turner of Mason City voted for the proposal because she believed it was the only way the universities could maintain a high level of quality.

“Legislators have to understand that education is really the thing that will keep Iowa on the map,” she said. “I am convinced that [education] is not the priority it has been in the past.”

Regent David Neil of La Porte City voted against the proposal.

“I intend to vote no and to send the message hopefully that the legislators can’t keep pushing [a tuition increase] on the three universities that falls on the backs of students,” he said before the vote.

Regent Mary Ellen Becker of Oskaloosa voted for the proposal, but said the tuition increase will not alleviate all of the problems the universities have suffered because of budget cuts.

“It’s a lot of money we’re asking students to add,” she said, “but it does not replace the money that has been lost.”

Prior to the vote, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy endorsed the raise in tuition.

“All of us at Iowa State University truly regret that it’s necessary to consider a tuition increase of this magnitude,” he said.

However, the tremendous loss of faculty the university had suffered made the tuition raise necessary to maintain quality, he said.

“The tuition increase does not come close to covering the money lost by budget cuts,” he said.

Both Geoffroy and University of Iowa Interim President Willard “Sandy” Boyd said they would like to make more financial aid available to students to offset high tuition rates.

Student Regent Neala Arnold, senior in elementary education at Iowa, voted against the increase.

“I’m still a student,” she said of her decision. “I understand how difficult this [tuition increase] is for students and families.”

Government of the Student Body President T.J. Schneider and Vice President Joe Darr spoke to the regents and encouraged them to look at alternatives.

“I think they genuinely were listening,” Darr said. “I just think they had their hands tied.”

Schneider said the vote did not come as a surprise.

“Joe and I … were not excited about the increase,” he said. “I know students are not in agreement with the increase.”

But he said he thought students would understand the factors involved in the decision.

“I think the students of Iowa State realize the quality of education we receive is one of the most important things — it’s a point of pride for us,” he said.