Regents begin discussion of big tuition increase

The board that governs the state-supported universities today opened discussion of a sizable increase in tuition for students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I. Board of Regents staff is calling for a six-hundred-50 dollar increase in tuition next year for students who’re Iowa residents, and twice that for out-of-staters. Greg Nichols, executive secretary of the Board of Regents, says the increase is necessary and “reasonable” to meet the ultimate goals of the public universities to maintain educational quality.State taxpayer support of the schools in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City has been cut by 28-hundred dollars per student over the past two years. Iowa State University president Gregory Geoffrey says the increase is needed to maintain the quality of the university. He says the budget cuts are real and forcing the discussion of the tuition increase, as he says the cuts has seriously eroded the quality of Iowa State University. University of Northern Iowa president Robert Koob says administrators are in a no-win situation. Koob says from the point of view of the university, the tuition increase is inadequate. But he says the students view the increase as extraordinarily high.Koob says they must end the move toward the privatization of high education in the state of Iowa.Acting University of Iowa President Sandy Boyd says tuition hikes are now forcing most students to borrow their way through college rather than work their way through.Boyd says that’s the wrong direction to be heading, away from the public university function of providing an affordable, accessible education. University of Northern Iowa student body president Jeff Scudder says students have “serious concerns” about what he calls an “alarming” tuition increase.Iowa State University student body president T. J. Snyder says the cost of a college education keeps going up, while the quality of that education is declining. He says more is being request of students, yet less is being expected from the universities.The Board’s decision on tuition will be made at its mid-November meeting in Ames.