Statewide Iowa — All three student body presidents spoke Monday during the Board of Regents meeting as they held the first reading of a proposed four-point-two-five percent tuition increase. The Board says the increase is needed after they requested an additional 15 million dollars from the Iowa Legislature and lawmakers gave them a five-and-half million. ISU student body president Jacob Ludwig says he understands the situation.
He says the tuition increase is another hurdle students face following the challenges of the pandemic.
The increase translates to around 350 dollars at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University and 330 dollars at the University of Northern Iowa. Ludwig says students are grateful for the increase in state support this year — but says state support is not keeping up.
UI student body president, Patrick Johnson, talked about the impact of the tuition increase on student debt.
He says he is also concerned that it costs out-of-state students around 30-thousand dollars just for one year of tuition and fees.
He says state lawmakers need to do more to help.
UNI student body president, Leila Masinovic, echoes the concerns.
Masinovic says UNI depends on the state funding even more than the other two universities.
The Board of Regents will take its first vote on the tuition proposal at its next meeting.
