It seems definite Iowa State students will have to pay more in tuition next year. The questions is, how much more?

The state Board of Regents is looking at raising the proposed 3.9 percent increase in tuition to a higher percentage, rumored to be about 5 percent.

“They are looking at it,” said Rob Wiese, president of the Government of the Student Body.

Personnel in the office of the State Board of Regents said Thursday they have not yet set a specific percentage, but denied the 5 percent rumor.

“I’m not sure where that came from, but I heard that on the news, too,” said Pam Elliott, associate director of business and finance. “It didn’t come from this office.”

The regents are considering the increase to avoid a University of Iowa proposal charging students in the College of Business a $490 surcharge.

“They’re doing it for no good reason,” Wiese said. “It’s not justified at all, and it’s 100 percent morally wrong.”

R. Wayne Richey, executive director of the Board of Regents, said he has never mentioned a 5 percent increase to anyone.

“I do not think that I would be coming out with a 5 percent recommendation,” he said. “I might as well kill that snake right now.”

Richey also said the rumored 5 percent increase may have its foundation in discussion of the Higher Education Price Index, or HEPI.

“Our costs are going up in excess of 5 percent,” Richey said.

However, according to a letter sent to Wiese from Louise Houseworth, director of business and finance of the Board of Regents, state appropriations to the regent universities “have increased more than 5 percent in the current year, and are expected to increase by more than 5 percent next year.”

State appropriations accounted for 36.5 percent of ISU’s 1996 budget, while tuition and fees accounted for 12.4 percent, according to the ISU Strategic Planning Progress 1995-96 annual report. Exact figures for last year and projected figures for this year have not yet been released.

Wiese said the percentage increase will affect students more than the Board realizes.

“There are students that can’t go to school here next year,” Wiese said. “That’s really sad. Students have a huge need, but that money is going to other things,” he said.

At ISU, 11 percent of tuition is allotted for student financial aid, Wiese said. This compares to 15 percent at Iowa and UNI.

Of this 11 percent, Wiese said, much of it goes to athletic and National Merit scholarships, so it is never seen by many students with need.

“It seems like the university is more concerned with how it looks than with actually helping the students,” he said.

Wiese also said the debt ISU students graduate with is now comparable to some private colleges, citing Drake as an example.

“Students at Drake are graduating with a $17,900 debt. Students at ISU are graduating with approximately a $17,600 debt,” he said.

He questioned why prospective students would choose ISU over Drake.

“Why would you come here when you could go to Drake, which has a smaller campus and a computer in every room, for about the same amount of money?” Wiese asked.

Wiese said he plans to fight the increase with a massive letter-writing campaign.

“We really need students who have high student loans and their parents to write and call Board of Regents members,” Wiese said

Wiese also said when the Board meets at ISU in November to vote on the increase, the room needs to be “packed with students” so the Board knows who they are affecting.

Students who write letters to the Regents can pick up stamped, addressed envelopes at the GSB office in the east student office space of the Memorial Union.