Students gather in front of the Old Capitol Building on the University of Iowa campus to protest a previously proposed tuition increase. (Mark Carlson/The Gazette)
The Iowa State Board of Regents is poised to approve further tuition increases at Iowa's three state universities. On today's agenda is a proposal to raise tuition by 3% this fall at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. Tuition at the University of Northern Iowa will increase by 2%.
The latest increase follows a 3.5% increase during the current year.
Each tuition increase represents a failure by state leaders to adequately fund public universities. For years, with state support stagnant and decreasing, schools must cover operating costs through tuition fees.
In 1981, state grants accounted for 77 percent of the university's general funds, and tuition accounted for 21 percent. Currently, tuition fees account for approximately 60%, with 31% covered by state funds.
The $573 million approved for Regents universities in the 2025 budget is less than the amount each school received in fiscal year 2009, when state funding exceeded $600 million. According to the Legislative Agency, state funding has remained flat or decreased except for 2009. Meanwhile, tuition fees have steadily increased over the past decade.
For example, in 1998, the University of Iowa received $223.6 million of the state's total budget of $4.36 billion. In fiscal year 2021, the UI received $215.6 million from the $7.78 billion general fund budget. The governor proposed $223.5 million in state aid to the UI in fiscal year 2025.
Iowa Republicans, who currently run the Legislature, are shortchanging universities to serve as some of the state's most powerful economic drivers. These are institutions that can foster innovation, train a skilled workforce, and conduct important research. Curbing higher education spending year after year is a short-sighted budget strategy that harms Iowa and Iowans.
Instead, lawmakers have decided to treat universities like political punching bags. Republicans seek to micromanage the curriculum and ban diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on campus. An obsession with culture war politics will hinder recruitment efforts for students and faculty.
Instead of a culture war, Iowa is fighting to alleviate labor shortages and stem the flow of college graduates out of the state. Iowa families are struggling to cover the increasing cost of a college education, and annual tuition increases are making the problem worse.
States should fuel these economic engines, not prepare them for failure.
(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com
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