Once again, ISU students who live in the residence halls will be paying more for room and board next year.

The state Board of Regents voted Thursday to increase room and board at the three regent universities: Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.

The rate increase for Iowa State is 6.3 percent, or $261. Students currently paying $4,171 for board and a 20-meal plan will pay $4,432 next year.

Thomas Hill, ISU vice president for Student Affairs, said the increased room and board rates are necessary.

“I know it’s good not to have any increase at all,” he said. “[But] you can’t expect the same level of service when everything around you is going up and you’re keeping the same prices.”

Also during the meeting, the presidents of Iowa’s three regent universities continued to express their concern with the budget.

Presidents from the University of Iowa, Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa presented board members with information about the detrimental effects the proposed funding would have at each of the schools and what it would mean for their students.

“This is a very, very difficult budget,” ISU President Martin Jischke said. “We’re about to get derailed; we’re at a fork in the road.”

During the meeting, Jischke presented board members with spreadsheets of how the budget shortfall would impact Iowa State and possible steps for handling the cut in state funding.

Jischke said Iowa State could soften the blow of the budget cuts by reallocating tuition and inflation funds, but it would not be able to fund any improvements or new projects.

“We do a very good job of containing costs,” he said. “I do not believe we should compromise the quality of our university.”

While Jischke said he thinks maintaining quality at Iowa State is essential, he added he does not like the high price that would be necessary to keep it.

“If we are to continue to maintain our quality and stay with our strategic plan, it would imply an 18 percent tuition increase,” he said.

Jischke said he is not recommending that increase to the regents but wanted to illustrate what would be needed to compensate for the budget cuts and continue to make improvements at the university.

The example includes a 10 percent increase to make up for the potential budget cuts, a 4 percent increase for salary increases and 2 percent increases for both inflation and improvement projects such as library technology and reduced class sizes, Jischke said.

“While it is, in principle, possible to set aside the strategic plan,” he said, “I believe that would be a very big mistake.”

Regent David Fisher agreed that continuing progress at the universities is important.

“I thought [the university presidents] were right on the mark,” he said. “It’s a major, major change in the direction of funding for these universities. I don’t think the people of Iowa understand the issue and the seriousness for higher education.”

Regent David Neil said both the public and the Legislature do not have enough information about the budget cuts. He said the perception of many people in Iowa is that the regent universities are overfunded.

“The public doesn’t understand the value [of these cuts],” he said. “We’ve got to figure out some way to bring that value forward.”