The Board of Regents approved a 3% increase in tuition and mandatory fees for all undergraduate students at its meeting Thursday. The 8-1 vote came after student representatives from the three state schools gave their input. University of Iowa student body president-elect Emily Cross says capping the increases at three percent is good, but said the Board needs to look at what that number means.
Cross says three percent may sound modest, but it happens year after year.
Regent Christine Hensley was the only vote against the increase. Hensley says she is focused on the budget gaps and using a tuition increase to make them up.
Hensley says nobody wants to have to deal with budget gaps.
Hensley is a former Des Moines City Council member and former executive director of the YWCA of Greater Des Moines. Board president Robert Cramer says the increase is a matter of simple math.
The move will increase in-state undergraduate tuition at the University of Iowa by $287, $286 at Iowa State University, and $262 at the University of Northern Iowa.
