(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The University of Northern Iowa will begin offering in-state tuition to students from Iowa’s six border states this fall, with the university’s foundation finding seed money for the program after Gov. Kim Reynolds removed its funding from the proposed state budget. The Cedar Falls university announced the launch of its Neighboring State Rate Tuesday (July 8) — a plan that will allow new students from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin to pay greatly reduced tuition compared to their out-of-state peers. Tuition for these students, pending Iowa Board of Regents approval at the end of the month, will be set at $10,201 for the fall — a rate matching the one approved for in-state, undergraduate students.

“This is an exciting development for students and their families across the region,” UNI President Mark Nook said in a statement. “We anticipate that UNI’s Neighboring State Rate will attract even more talented students to our campus to take advantage of the wide variety of academic programs we offer, at an even more affordable price. Funding to the tune of $1.5 million for the new tuition rate program was included in education appropriations legislation passed this spring, but Reynolds line-item vetoed the allocation before signing the bill into law. In her veto letter, Reynolds cited questions about how current students would fall under the tuition change and the “expectation of ongoing funding” as reasons for striking out the appropriation. UNI originally requested $3 million in one-time funding for the program, she said in the letter, but later changed the ask to $1.5 million with the hope of future state funding.

(Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

University spokesperson Pete Moris said in an interview the UNI Foundation, the university’s fundraising branch, will provide $1.5 million to start the program this year, filling the gap left by lowered tuition rates. Students will pay around $12,000 less annually through the new tuition program than they would with traditional nonresident rates, he said. After the veto, Moris said university staff and leadership believed the program should still get started as soon as possible, as it will take longer than the month and some change before school starts to see its full impact. “We really need a full recruiting cycle to put this into play and to start spreading that message into those six states and getting the word out,” Moris said.

There are currently 467 students attending UNI from Iowa’s contiguous states, Moris said, with almost 75% of the group hailing from Illinois or Minnesota. South Dakota has the smallest representation of the group, with only six students. South Dakota has a statewide nonresident tuition program of its own with 10 states, Iowa included. Nonresident undergraduate students who don’t qualify for the UNI program will pay $22,359 for the 2025-2026 academic year, a 3% increase from last year. This rate, as well as rates for all other groups of students at UNI, are the lowest in the state for public universities.

“We really think that this is something that’s going to be a benefit from the state of Iowa in terms of attracting new folks to the state to help meet some of our workforce needs, but also for UNI,” Moris said. “The students from different places we have adds to the vibrancy of our campus and the experience for our students.”