Des Moines Register
12-04-07
Regents approve 3.2 percent tuition increase
By ERIN JORDAN • REGISTER STAFF WRITER
The Iowa Board of Regents unanimously approved this morning an average 3.2 percent tuition increase for students attending Iowa's public universities in 2008-
09.
"I hoped that the increase could be held even lower, to 2 percent, but I realize the feeling of the board is for the 3.2 percent. I will vote in favor of it in hopes of making it unanimous," said Regents President Michael Gartner at the regents meeting this morning in Cedar Falls.
The 3.2 percent average hikes at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are the smallest for Iowa's public universities since 1980, when the average increase was 3 percent.
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Gartner argued in October that the board should increase tuition and fees by only
2 percent for resident undergraduates because the Iowa Legislature approved the universities' full funding request, but the majority of board members opposed that plan. Regents Ruth Harkin and Rose Vasquez also supported a lower increase, but changed their minds for today's vote.
Under the board's proposal:
- The University of Iowa would charge undergraduate residents $6,524 for tuition and mandatory fees in 2008-09, a 4 percent increase from this year. Nonresident undergraduates at the U of I would pay $20,638, a 6.1 percent increase from this year.
- Iowa State University resident undergraduates would pay $6,380, a 3.2 percent increase. Nonresident undergraduates at ISU would pay $17,350, a
2.5 percent rise.
- University of Northern Iowa resident undergrads would pay $6,378, a 3 percent increase. UNI's nonresident undergraduates would pay $14,596, an increase of
2.2 percent.
Gartner announced at the board's meeting today that the regents will meet in a telephone conference Wednesday at 10 a.m. to elect a new president of the nine-member board. Gartner told the regents Monday he planned to step down

as leader on Jan. 1, three months short of the end of his term in April, to let a new president lead the regents system through the 2008 legislative session.