By Madeline Murphy Smith
[email protected]

The University of Iowa is patiently waiting to see if tuition will remain frozen for the next academic year.

The states Board of Regents decide every year whether to implement a tuition hike or freeze to the regent universities, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and the UI.

In September, the regents voted to freeze tuition at UI for the spring 2016 semester and raise it at ISU and UNI by about $100 a student.

Because of this freeze, the UI is the cheapest Iowa regent university for students to attend, said UI Student Government President Liz Mills.

“I asked and advocated for a tuition freeze for this semester and we got it,” she said “Technically we are the lowest cost institution for students to attend.”

Mills said she hopes Gov. Terry Branstad will extend the UI’s tuition freeze for the upcoming fall 2016 semester. However, because the UI is a public institution, she said, it depends year by year if money is allocated for students to whether students will benefit from this freeze.

“The last several years, we’ve been able to have that freeze, and we’ve been fortunate enough that the state of Iowa has been able to supplement that, but I don’t predict that will be the case much longer,” she said.

Mills said tuition freezes have been beneficial for students because it keeps tuition predictable and more affordable for students.

“I am hopeful that whoever gets elected, whether it’s the BLOC Party or Yes Party, will advocate for this predictability model next year,” she said.

UI junior and BLOC UISG residential candidate Rachel Zuckerman said she will continue on a path similar to the current UISG administration regarding affordable education for students.   

“Next year, BLOC Party executives will continue the work of the current UISG administration to meet with legislators and emphasize the importance of quality, affordable education from the University of Iowa,” she said.

In regard to the tuition freeze, Mills said she recognized that the BLOC Party is open and willing to look at possible other funding streams and what will be feasible to students.

The Yes Party was not able to be reached for comment at the time of publication.

The regents are currently waiting for the legislative session to end and Branstand to come back with appropriations regarding tuition freezes, said Josh Lehman, the senior communications director for the regents.

“No decision has been made the Legislature is still doing their work and we need to know what the governor signs first,” he said.

Lehman said the regents will work with UI officials to come up with a plan regarding the price of tuition once the they know the decision made by legislators. 

“At that point when we know what the appropriation is, the regents will work with in conjunction with university leadership to have that discussion and will work from there,” he said.