Regents call meeting on additional tuition increase

Maggie Curry
May 5, 2017

The Iowa Board of Regents will have a first reading of proposed Fall 2017 tuition increases this Monday, May 8. These increases are in addition to the already approved 2 percent increase.

Iowa State is up for an additional increase of $216, which would apply to resident and non-resident undergraduates and graduate students alike.

The proposed tuition totals come to:

Resident undergraduates: $7456 (5 percent increase from 2016-17)

Non-resident undergraduates: $21,292 (4.1 percent increase from 2016-17)

Resident graduates: $8944 (5.5 percent increase from 2016-17)

Non-resident graduates: $22,656 (4 percent increase from 2016-17)

How we got here

In September 2016, the Regents made a two year plan for tuition. This ‘2+2’ plan called for 2 percent increase in tuition rates every two years, as long as state funds also increased by 2 percent.

In December 2016, the Board approved the 2 percent increase for 2017-18 to the base resident undergraduate tuition rate at each university. At that time, the $142 increase in resident undergraduate tuition and $614 (3 percent) non-resident student tuition was accompanied by a mandatory student fee increase of $12.50 to go toward mental health.

In December the regents also approved a differential tuition structure and rate for upper-division students in animal science, biology, computer science, industrial design and natural resources ecology and management. If approved it would be phased in over three years, beginning the summer of 2018. When fully implemented, juniors and seniors in those majors would pay an additional $1,600 more per academic year, according to emails sent to students in March.

Read more on the differential tuition structure here.

In addition, in 2017-18 international students would see a raise of $500 in tuition, the second installment of a plan approved in 2015 that would implement a $1,500 supplemental increase over three years.

Read more on the December voting here.

In February and April 2017, the General Assembly reduced funding projections for 2018. In total, appropriations for 2018 were adjusted to be $30.33 million less than original projected amounts. A tuition task-force was formed to propose additional increases at that time.

Find the proposed tuition documents here

Live audio streaming of the meeting will be available at www.iowaregents.edu.

The Board of Regents is a group of nine citizen volunteers who govern the state’s three public universities and two special K-12 schools – the Iowa School for the Deaf and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School – through policymaking, coordination and oversight.