The Iowa State Board of Regents approved a report Wednesday that stated all state universities will be in compliance with the Y2K plan by this October.

The Y2K plan states that all of the university computers need to be updated so when the year 2000 arrives, they will not be shut down by the Millennium Bug.

“We’re pretty far along,” said Warren Madden, Iowa State’s vice president for Business and Finance. “We first looked at ‘mission critical systems,’ which includes student financial aid and registration.”

Building utility systems also have been at the top of the university’s to-do list, Madden said.

“We don’t anticipate major utility problems,” he said. “Most of the buildings’ heating and cooling systems were in place before microchips were invented.”

Charles Wright, director of legal affairs, human resources and information technology at the Board of Regents office, said there should not be any problem with getting the regent universities Y2K-ready.

“Each institution should be in compliance by October 1999,” he said. “Over 80 percent should be in compliance by July of 1999.”

Madden said the ISU’s goal is to complete repairs on systems by June 30.

“At this rate we should be 90-95 percent complete by summer,” he said.

The report on the Y2K compliance states that each institution has achieved technically sound plans.

“We are compiling contingency plans in case any of the systems should malfunction,” Madden said. “The Department of Public Safety already has a plan in case phone lines should malfunction.”

Other topics on the docket that were approved by the board were:

• Requests by all three state universities to increase the extension courses and continuing education fees comparatively to the approved board tuition increase of 4.5 percent.

• ISU’s proposal for a new per credit course and continuing education fee, which combines the rate of on-campus tuition and a cost-based delivery fee for the Masters of Public Administration (MPA) program and the Masters of Education-Educational Leadership (MEd EL) program.

• ISU’s request to begin a third phase on the Reiman Gardens project called the “Town and Country Garden.” The $1.2 million project will provide a variety of garden scenarios designed for residential application. It will also include construction of a building structure to be used for university extension and academic programs.

• ISU’s request to enter into an agreement with Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck in the amount of $251,783 to provide design services for the Pearson Hall remodeling project.