The cost of getting a quality university education is unquestioningly on the rise, as is student debt.

A proposed surcharge of an additional $490 for the University of Iowa’s business administration undergraduate students in addition to a 3.9 percent base tuition raise led to lengthy discussion of larger issues of student costs and precedent at Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting, held at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids.

Regents resolved to seriously discuss the matters in the next month before the October meeting.

Iowa State President Martin Jischke said the surcharge as a policy matter could affect ISU. He asked the regents to consider long-term effects. If implemented, he said the similar surcharge proposals would be presented by other colleges, causing different university programs to have different cost structures.

UNI President Robert Koob agreed with Jischke. He said the surcharge would take tuition choices down to the level of individual colleges and could open up students to a flood of proposals for increased tuition.

”That’s a fundamental change,” Koob said. ”That’s saying we will lay the responsibility on the colleges and that we don’t trust the central administration of the university.”

Koob said he is “philosophically opposed” to charging different rates for different programs, reducing accessibility of some programs to students who can’t afford to pay more.

Gary Fethke, dean of the U of I College of Business Administration, said the surcharge is needed to upgrade computer services and job training and placement for students.

However, Jeremy Williams, ISU Government of the Student Body finance director, said these funds would be more appropriately raised through the student fees committee, which allows students a more direct voice in such expenditures.

GSB President Rob Wiese said the entire morning’s meeting essentially addressed the future of cost versus technology.

Trent Preszler, GSB director of legislative affairs, said, “It was an important meeting because they started to address fundamental issues in the role of the Regents.”

Technology specialization in the future is going to require special methods of fundraising for each university, Preszler said. He praised Jischke for bringing “the larger picture issues out” during the meeting.

“I think the Regents were really receptive to the student input,” Preszler said.

Wiese said he does not think the surcharge will pass.

President Jischke told the Regents that about three in every four ISU students work to pay for their educations and expressed concern about the increase in loans students are taking out to pay for college.

“There’s a limit to the debt they can carry,” he said.

Jischke said that while available financial aid is increasing, costs are also increasing.

Although the presidents of all three universities said they support the proposed base tuition increase, ISU Government of the Student Body President Rob Wiese spoke in favor of a smaller increase.

Wiese presented charts and graphs showing that the Higher Education Price Index used as an indicator for the Board of Regents proposed increase was excessively high compared to the HEPI projections of Kent Halsted, the founder of Research Associates in Washington, D.C.

Wayne Richey, executive director, conceded that Whiteman’s predictions might be high but said the HEPI for Iowa is higher than the national average, closer to 5 percent.

The increase in tuition, he said, will be used to directly benefit students through improved educational programs.

Teresa Manley, president of UNI’s student body, said she agreed with Wiese in asking for a 3 percent or a 3.3 percent tuition increase rather than a 3.9 percent increase.

“These are students receiving student wages,” she said. “I don’t see where a 3.9 percent increase is necessitated.”

The board usually approves tuition changes in October, but members said they would be willing to delay a month if needed in order to study the surcharge issue.

GSB will need the support of the student body to further their push for a lower tuition increase, Wiese said.

“I think now we really need to start letter-writing,” Wiese said. “What we really need is students who have a tough time paying for school to write.”

GSB will provide envelopes and postage for any students who bring letters to the Board of Regents about tuition increases to the GSB office in the Memorial Union.

At the meeting it was also reported that:

* ISU has the largest freshman class it has had in more than 12 years. Jischke reported that undergraduate enrollment is up 2 percent due to a “team effort on campus.”