© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Governor Says "No Way Iowa Families" Can Afford Proposed Tuition Increases At UI, ISU

Flickr / Max Goldberg
Iowa State University

Iowa’s governor says proposed undergraduate tuition increases at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University are too much. 

The schools in Iowa City and Ames are suggesting they raise costs by at least 7 percent annually for the next five years. These increases would mean that by 2022, tuition at UI and ISU would be more than 40 percent higher compared to what students currently pay.

The state Board of Regents asked the schools to look at tuition costs after the state cut funding by more than $30 million due to a statewide budget shortfall. 

"That is too much, there is no way that Iowa families could afford a 7 percent increase over five years," says Gov. Kim Reynolds. "So I would encourage the regents to, you know, let’s take a look at what we can, what’s manageable. And keep in the forefront doing everything we can to keep higher education, post-secondary education costs down."

Reynolds points to Iowa’s community college system as a way to keep education costs low. The governor added the board's work is, "just getting started, and I'm going to let them work through the process." 

The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls , Iowa's third and smallest regents university, is also proposing a tuition increase. Instead of a single proposal, UNI's president offered three plans that are each more modest than UI and ISU's suggestions.