The Government of the Student Body will decide its official position on the proposed 4.3 percent tuition increase at tonight’s meeting.

A resolution expresses GSB’s disapproval of the recommended increase because of the current U.S. agricultural economy crisis and the estimated 14 percent of ISU students who come from farming communities.

“If 1 percent of that 14 percent would not come to Iowa State, that would be a loss of almost $1 million in revenue for the university,” said Michel Pogge, off-campus council and one of the bill’s sponsors.

GSB President Matt Craft will present Iowa State’s stance at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday in Cedar Falls.

The 4.3 percent proposed increase is composed of two smaller figures: 2.3 percent for inflation and 2 percent for quality improvement.

GSB will not contest the portion delegated for inflation, said Alex Olson, off-campus council, another sponsor of the bill.

“We understand that inflation increases — that’s not one of our concerns,” he said. “We think the 2 percent for improvements is higher than need be.”

Pogge said he also feels the 2 percent is excessive.

“We think education can be improved at Iowa State without such a large increase,” he said.

If the resolution passes, GSB also will voice discontent with the proposed change in fee structure for the University of Iowa. The university is proposing to separate student fees from tuition as a separate line item.

This means that on top of the 4.3 percent increase in tuition, a separate student fees charge would be assessed to each student, making the University of Iowa’s total increase about 6.9 percent, Pogge said. The portion of tuition that currently goes toward student fees would be redirected into the university’s general fund.

“This would probably affect us in the future,” Pogge said. “If Iowa starts charging student fees separately from tuition, they will pressure [ISU] President [Martin] Jischke to do the same.”

If ISU converted to the same system next year, Pogge said it would result in an 8.9 percent increase in tuition fees. The number would be higher for ISU because a larger portion of ISU’s tuition goes toward student fees, he said.

“It would affect us more than Iowa,” Pogge said.

Also on the meeting’s agenda is a bill to add to the GSB bylaws a process for selecting and approving members of the finance committee.

Currently, no formalized process is described in the bylaws, Olson said.

“This bill will fill the hole in the bylaws,” he said.

In the past, the finance director selected individuals for the committee, and the senate voted whether to approve those he or she appointed, Craft said.

“This bill would give a specific process,” he said. “The only difference is that it has to be included in the normal bill packet and may not be added to the agenda at the last minute.”

The new requirement would provide for two days notice of the committee selections, giving senators time to debate and think about the finance director’s decisions, Craft said.

“They can accept part or all of the recommendations,” Pogge said. “I think this year there will an effort to clean up the bylaws.”