An Iowa House Committee has approved a bill that gives the three state-supported universities more time to set tuition rates. The schools currently must set tuition for the upcoming academic year by November of the preceding year — about nine months ahead of time. University of Northern Iowa spokesman Keith Saunders says that time lag forces the regents to make a lot of predictions. He says that’s created problems with across the board cuts that’ve come late in the year, and adjustments by the revenue estimating conference. The Board of Regents has asked the legislature to move the tuition deadline to March to give them four more months to decide what to charge students at U-N-I, Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. Saunders says it would give the Regents a clearer picture of the economy. He says they’re trying to protect the students and give them as much advance notice as necessary. Saunders says even if the legislature approves the March deadline, the Regents hope to have tuition set by February of every year.
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