Doug Gross, the Republican candidate for Governor, says if he’s elected, he’d consider giving students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I some sort of guarantee that tuition through their four-year stay would increase no more than the rate of inflation.Gross has been calling tuition increases a “stealth tax” on students and parents. The Board of Regents next week will consider a proposal that’d raise tuition nearly 18 percent.Gross says his worst fears are being realized, as tuition will go up about 50 percent in three years.Gross says that’s “astounding.” Yesterday, Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack issued a statement condemning the proposal, saying it was “unacceptable.” Vilsack says the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature has not been sympathetic to the universities’ budget needs. Gross lays the blame at Vilsack’s feet, he says the governor’s misplaced budget priorities have funneled money away from the Regents institutions.
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