Tuition questions will simmer until regents' October meeting
Author: Anne Krapfl
This is an archived story. The content, links and information may have changed since the publication date.
Author: Anne Krapfl
Up to their next regular meeting Oct. 19, the nine members of the state Board of Regents will review the regent universities' five-year tuition proposals and supporting documents. No decisions have been made on tuition increases, said regent Larry McKibben at the board's Sept. 7 meeting in Iowa City. McKibben led a four-regent group this summer studying how to provide tuition predictability to students and their families and sufficient operating resources to the three regent universities.
The board will receive 2018-19 tuition proposals next month and approve tuition rates in early December. McKibben said one message task force members heard frequently was that Iowa's public universities aren't three locations of the same product. He said the board would "take that into careful consideration" when it sets next year's rates.
Tuition Task Force final report
Board president Michael Richards said the regents are committed to setting tuition rates once a year, not twice as has occurred the last two years. During the busiest period this summer, board members received about 50 emails daily on the funding question, he said. Most writers requested low tuition increases, but other consistent messages included a desire for four- or five-year price tag predictability once students start college and support for different tuition rates at the three universities.
In his report to the board, McKibben highlighted several higher education funding facts:
McKibben said the solution to underfunded higher education in Iowa has three components:
"Our public universities desperately need to have increased annual state financial support. This board, as well as all Iowans, must work harder in conveying this message to our legislators and governor," McKibben said. "We're headed downhill, and it has to stop."
In the face of recent state revenue shortfalls and potentially more in the near future, Richards acknowledged a tough assignment ahead.
"We'll try to make the case in individual discussions with legislators and the governor," he said. "We need to thoughtfully put our plan out there."
In other business, the board approved two bond sales for Iowa State:
Iowa State’s sole new capital request for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2018, is $20 million to begin a multiyear effort to replace the 40-year-old Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. The same request was not funded by the 2017 Legislature.
The board has to submit all FY19 funding requests to the state by Oct. 1.
As proposed, Iowa State would seek an additional $80 million in state appropriations for the project over the next four years (FY20-23). The estimated $124 million price tag also relies on $20 million in gifts and $4 million in university funds.
As approved by previous Legislatures, Iowa State also is scheduled to receive this state building support in FY19:
The board also will ask the state for $20 million to be shared by all the institutions in FY19 for deferred maintenance, energy conservation and safety projects.
The board's property and facilities committee reviewed and will recommend approval in October to the full board ISU requests to begin plans for: