(Radio Iowa) — The board that governs the state’s public universities has approved a nearly four percent increase in undergraduate tuition for students at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. There will be NO tuition increase at the University of Northern Iowa. The three-point-nine percent increase in tuition at Iowa and Iowa State takes effect this fall. The 2019 legislature did not provide as much of a boost in state taxpayer support of the schools as the Board of Regents requested. The tuition hike is nearly one percent higher than the board predicted last November. Regent Milt Dakovich says it makes sense for the board of wait until state funding decisions are final. “I think it’s a lot better mechanism than we’ve had in the past,” Dakovich says. “Previously, we’ve been setting tuition prior to the legislative session.”

That meant after approving tuition rates in November for the NEXT fall, the board might vote AGAIN in the spring to hike the rate if state funding was below expectations. “It provides a lot more predictability to students and parents,” Dakovich says. The legislature provided a 12 million dollar increase in taxpayer support of the schools for the next academic year. Each institution will get four million dollars.