After months of debate and speculation, the Board of Regents will determine the fate of the proposed 18.5 percent increase in tuition and fees for the 2002-2003 academic year.

Other items on the agenda are related to institution budgets and budget revisions; annual reports on fire safety and deferred maintenance projects; and additions to the legislative program. Requests for allocations that will later be presented to the Iowa Legislature.

“There are a lot of issues – financing and other issues on every campus,” said Regent David Fisher of West Des Moines. “This is a full agenda.”

Andy Tofilon, president of the Government of the Student Body, said tuition is obviously his major concern.

“Tuition is by far the most important issue, at least for students,” he said. “I don’t think anything else is even in the same league.”

GSB will appeal to the regents one more time before the decision is made.

“I’m giving a speech about how we feel this will affect students,” Tofilon said. “It will be a culmination of our previous presentations.”

Fisher said he believes the 18.5 percent tuition and fee increase will likely be approved.

“I think there will be very little debate,” he said. “The arguments – pro and con – were articulated very well at the last meeting, but I think most of the regents have made up their minds. I know I have.”

Tofilon said there is a glimmer of hope.

“I know there will be a very fiery debate,” he said. “There are camps within the regents.”

Tofilon said he anticipates some of the regents will at least attempt to make amendments to the proposal, and GSB is still optimistic about the possibility of a smaller increase.

“We are asking the regents to dampen the severity in any way they can,” he said.

Tofilon said he expects even more tuition increases in the future and corresponding drops in enrollment.

“I have a feeling this increase is an indication of what’s to come as long as the state is having problems,” he said.

However, Fisher said speculating about future tuition increases would be premature.

“We have to wait and see where funding streams will come from and the shape of the economy,” he said.

“Hopefully this will be the highest we’ll have to go.”

Another pressing issue for Iowa State is deferred maintenance.

Central administration recently delayed $7.8 million in building projects, rather than taking money from academic departments, to help compensate for the midyear $11.4 million reduction in state funds enacted this month.

But deferring maintenance was the best answer to the problem, Fisher said.

“When you have a choice to be made between academics and facilities, academic quality tops the list,” he said.

The catch, Fisher said, is that deferring maintenance could become a problem because it’s easy to put something off indefinitely.

“It will cost more to fix it tomorrow than it does to fix it today,” he said.