The state Board of Regents staff in Des Moines is recommending raising tuition an average of 3.9 percent at Iowa’s three state universities, a figure higher than projected inflation increases.

Although the proposed increase is one of the lowest in two decades, the general policy of the Regents requires tuition increases to be no higher than the increase in the cost of providing higher education.

The Higher Education Price Index projection for next year is 3.3 percent, and the Consumer Price Index projection is 3 percent.

The Regents will meet Wednesday and Thursday in Iowa City at the Memorial Union to discuss the recommendation for tuition rates. They will make a final decision at their Oct. 14-15 meeting.

Thomas Dorr, a regent from Marcus, said students should be concerned not just about the tuition increases in particular, but also the growing university budget.

“I have some real concerns for the overall budget increases. Part of that comes from your tuitions,” he said.

He said under the Clinton administration, universities have been allowed to grow under federal funding.

That funding may mean low tuition increases now, he said, but the growth in size will result in future increases that are higher than the inflation rates of higher education.

“The bigger issues in my opinion is how do students want to borrow for education?

“When are students going to realize there’s no free lunch? Everybody’s involved in this spiral upward involvement of the university budget.”

He said when members of the university community “think the entire package is OK, then nobody cares about the individual components.”

The increase would bring ISU tuition to a total of $2,766 for an undergraduate resident in 1997-98, $100 more than this year’s price.

Regent Nancy Pellett of Atlantic said she thinks the increase is too high.

“I need to be in the discussion on Wednesday and see where everybody’s standing. Maybe there’s room for compromise. There will be a lot of different factors [entering] into it,” she said.

But Adam Gold, Government of the Student Body president, said he feels positive about how low the increase is.

“[I’m] real happy with the way it turned out. The increase is less than $100 for in-state students.”

Wayne Richey, director of the Regents Office, defended the increase, saying Iowa’s education costs are increasing faster than the national average.

The statewide salary policy called for a 4 percent pay raise.

A recent congressional report, he said, showed that tuition at Iowa’s public universities was below the national average.

Last year’s tuition increase was 3.5 percent, the lowest since 1981-82.

ISU plans to use the $7.5 million generated by the additional tuition income to continue implementing its four-year graduation plan, improve student retention and graduation rates and have more senior faculty members teaching introductory courses.

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TUITION AND FEES

The state Board of Regents staff is recommending a tuition and fee increase for the 1997-98 school year

University of Iowa

Undergraduate $2,760 4.3% $9,616 4.0%

Graduate $3,242 4.3% $10,014 4.0%

Iowa State University

Undergraduate $2,766 3.8% $8,808 3.9%

Graduate $3,248 3.8% $9,174 3.9%

University of Northern Iowa

Undergraduate $2,752 3.9% $8,808 3.9%

Graduate $3,232 3.9% $7,698 3.9%

Resident

’97-’98 Increase

Non-resident

’97-’98 Increase

SOURCE: state Board of Regents