(Radio Iowa) – The board that governs the three state universities has reviewed a report that was mandated by the Iowa Legislature to study the merits of a tuition guarantee program. Board of Regents business officer Brad Berg says the study committee researched several institutions of varying sizes and types around the country. “Several of them implemented a tuition guarantee program and found them to be unsustainable,” Berg says. “The common theme there was they were terminated when experiencing downturns in the economy, which resulted in in jeopardized state support.”

Speaking at last week’s Board meeting, Berg says some schools have a program where students can pay a premium rate that remains fixed or choose a lower initial per credit rate that is subject to annual increases. He says they reviewed that possibility for the University of Iowa and says the upfront premium would have to be 18-hundred-60 dollars. Berg says the current Regent policy of tying tuition increases to inflation addresses on of the main concerns.

“The primary benefit of a tuition guarantee program is to provide predictability for students and families. A board policy just passed last April, caps based tuition increases for undergraduate residents at a three-year inflation average, which does provide some predictability on future tuition rates,” Berg says. He says another issue in implementing a tuition guarantee program is that the three state schools each operate unique student information systems and billing platforms that would require reworking.

“While this alone is not a barrier to implementing a tuition guarantee program, it does present complexities to ensure these systems can accurately track and enforce guarantees across multiple cohorts of students,” he says. Berg says there are a lot of variables that would have to be considered to make a program work. “Students frequently change majors, often moving into higher cost programs. They’ll travel abroad, and they’ll pursue double majors, which are just some of the contingencies that would require attention,” Berg says.

“Implementation of a tuition guarantee program would require careful assisting, planning and testing, and the establishment of clear policies and ongoing coordination and communication with students and families.” Berg points out that Iowa’s state universities continue to outperform outperformed national averages in retention and graduation rates, which are now the highest on record.

Board policy provides access to all qualified Iowans, enrollments are currently strong, and tuition rates continue to be very competitive with that. The Board received the report and will send it to the Iowa Legislature.