Des Moines, Iowa — The board that governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa has approved tuition hikes for the fall semester, but not before one board member blasted the governor and legislators for failing to provide more taxpayer support of the schools.
That’s Board of Regents member Larry McKibben of Marshalltown, a Republican who served 12 years in the Iowa Senate.
Tuition rates for U-N-I students who are Iowa residents will go up two-point-eight percent this fall. This past week, the Board of Regents unanimously approved those increases, along with tuition hikes for out-of-state students attending the three universities. McKibben was the only member of the board to comment before the vote was taken.
A lack of state government support has made this a “very, very difficult time” at the three public universities, according to McKibben.
The former legislator predicts state support of higher education will be a “major item” debated in the fall campaign.
McKibben predicts more Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I graduates will take jobs out-of-state to pay off the student debt that’s growing because of increased tuition costs. And McKibben warns there will more significant tuition hikes in the future if the governor and legislators do not boost state support of the three universities.
In other news from the Board of Regents, one of their members has abruptly resigned. Subhash Sahai, a doctor from Webster City, was appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Terry Branstad in 2013. His six-year term was scheduled to end next spring. The board’s president announced Sahai’s immediate departure from the board in a news release but gave no reason for Sahai’s resignation.
