Tuition will be the talk of the day at the Iowa State Board of Regents meeting, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday in Iowa City.

Students at the three regent universities, Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, may pay as much as a 5.2 percent increase in tuition for the 1999-2000 school year.

Lisa Ahrens, student regent, said the board will focus mainly on the tuition hike that has caused some discussion among students at the three universities.

Ahrens said the extra funds acquired from the raise in tuition are meant to improve the quality of education at the universities.

Even with the additional services that would be made available by the tuition increase, Ahrens believes the increase is too high.

“I hope we can get it down from 5.2 percent,” she said.

Other ISU officials see the increase from both sides.

“We are certainly sensitive of the impact the cost has on students, particularly those working through college,” said John McCarroll, director of university relations. “We try to be as accessible as we can and serve the residents of this state.”

But McCarroll also said that the university needs to “cover the costs of the institution.”

McCarroll said ISU tuition costs rank ninth out of 11 peer universities.

ISU’s tuition is lower than that of Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, the University of California Davis, Ohio State University, the University of Purdue, the University of Wisconsin and University of Texas A&M.

ISU’s tuition is higher than North Carolina State University and the University of Arizona.

According to the docket, ISU’s base tuition of $2,874 is $612 below the group average tuition of $3,686.

Ahrens said talks about a tuition differential for engineering students at the U of I may be postponed.

There are already tuition differentials for U of I’s law and dentistry programs.

She said a tuition differential at ISU is not likely, and she said she does not support differentials in tuition.

“I hope that I don’t see it come through [for ISU],” Ahrens said. “[A differential] changes the opportunities that students have.”

According to the Board of Regents docket, tuition proceeds will be used for:

• increased student financial aid

• unavoidable inflationary and other mandatory cost increases not supported with state appropriations

• allocation directed towards increased instruction in support of the regents’ four-year graduation plan

• library acquisitions and services

• enhancement of other focused programs such as learning communities

• study abroad programs

• computing and information technology, as well as instructional facilities and equipment to enhance ISU’s continuing initiatives in classroom and laboratory upgrading

• additional graduate assistantships to enhance research, strengthen undergraduate teaching and broaden financial support to graduate students