Maintaining and increasing quality of education are two of the key reasons Interim President Richard Seagrave supported the recently approved 9.9 percent tuition increase.

The Board of Regents approved the increase last week for Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.

Seagrave said the tuition increase is the result of three changes: inflation, increase in quality and a transfer of some student fees into tuition.

Seagrave said 5.2 percent of the increase will be funding the estimated inflation for the university’s basic costs, according to the Higher Education Price Index.

“[Fiscal year] 2002 is slightly more expensive because of higher fuel, library and information technology costs,” he said.

Another 2 percent comes from quality increases, Seagrave said, which consist of three main goals: maintaining the library, increasing information technology and reducing class sizes.

Rab Mukerjea, assistant to the president for budget planning and analysis, said the additional money for library maintenance is important.

“Libraries are something you need to attend to every year,” he said.

The money allotted to the library will be used to buy books, periodicals, journals and other materials in addition to keeping the current hours of operation, Seagrave said.

The increase for information technology will be used for “more and faster hookups, higher speed and expansion of the network and replacing outmoded computers in student labs,” he said.

Mukerjea said Iowa State’s network will also receive some needed upgrades.

Seagrave said some of the money will go toward the creation of more comfortable classrooms, which may be done differently in each college.

“It is up to the deans of the colleges,” he said. “Some are hiring extra faculty members or teaching assistants in order to have more sections. Some will use more technology to fix the classrooms, not necessarily making classes smaller, but making them more accessible.”

With the increase in enrollment, almost every college has shown growth, and because students do not take all classes within the college of their major, Mukerjea said the Provost’s Office is examining the areas hit the hardest.

“The liberal arts and sciences college was impacted in addition to the enrollment increases because every student takes classes in LAS,” he said.

The final 2.7 percent is a result of moving several student fees into tuition, Seagrave said. He said although the tuition increases were greater than many had hoped, they were necessary in order for the university to reach its goals.

“I know it’s high for many students,” he said, “but I think overall it’s a reasonable increase, and it’s consistent with what we need to do.”