Inside Iowa State

Nov. 8, 2006

Regents give first look at tuition increases for next year

by Anne Krapfl

Resident undergraduate and graduate students would pay 5.1 percent more in tuition and fees next year under proposed rates reviewed by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, Nov. 8. The regents are expected to approve the new rates at their December meeting in Iowa City. But the proposal notes that tuition levels could be adjusted in the spring, depending on the level at which the 2007 Iowa Legislature funds the regent universities.

The proposed increase (as a percentage) matches the median of the projected Higher Education Price Index for FY2008.

For undergraduate residents, tuition and fees for the academic year would go up $301, to $6,161, if the rates are approved. Graduate resident students would pay $343 more, or $7,009 next year.

For the second year in a row, upper-division undergraduate students in engineering would pay supplemental tuition, $526 next year, to reflect the higher costs of educating engineering students. The 2007-08 year would be the second of a proposed four years of supplemental tuition for junior- and senior-level students in the College of Engineering.

Tuition and fees would go up about 3.4 percent as proposed for out-of-state students, to $16,919 for undergraduates and $17,669 for graduate students. President Gregory Geoffroy told board members that Iowa State's market analysis indicates tuition for out-of-state students is reaching its upper limits.

"We have to moderate our tuition increases for non-resident students," he said.

He noted that the tuition increase for out-of-state students is a dollar amount roughly twice the tuition increase for Iowa students (at both the undergraduate and graduate levels).

Student leaders and the university presidents from all three regent universities expressed support for the proposed tuition and fee increases.

Resident students would pay 5.1 percent more in tuition and fees under proposed rates reviewed by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.