(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Iowa Board of Regents considers state university tuition, salaries • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-04-24
Money was on the mind of the Iowa Board of Regents and the faculty and staff who spoke during its April meeting, with members discussing potential tuition changes, contracts for union members and salaries for non-union university employees.
Board President Sherry Bates, in remarks to the board, addressed the “difficult balance” of weighing the costs to students and the funds universities need to provide a quality education when determining tuition, assuring those present the board takes the responsibility very seriously.
Bates also announced a new committee that will conduct a study of potentially offering students a tuition guarantee, meaning their tuition costs won’t increase after their first year of undergraduate education. The committee, comprised of Regents David Barker and Christine Hensley, should have the study complete and ready to present to the board at its November meeting, Bates said.
“Setting tuition rates is one of the most important things the board does,” Bates said. “I have served on the board for a decade, and we have always been thoughtful and deliberative when considering tuition rates.”
Legislation awaiting Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signature would direct the board of regents and state universities to complete such a study, as well as set an April 30 deadline for the board to approve tuition rates for the upcoming academic year.
This year, the board will consider final approval of 2025-2026 tuition rates at its June meeting. The proposal for tuition, including 3% increases at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University and a 2.7% increase at the University of Northern Iowa for in-state undergraduate students, saw its first reading Thursday with no discussion or questions from the board.
Board ratifies union contracts
The board also ratified contracts for unions operating on state university campuses, including the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS), United Faculty and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). United Faculty and SEIU represent UNI faculty and tertiary health care employees at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, respectively.
Each of the unions will receive a 3% increase to base wages and minimum salaries in 2025 and 2026, according to contract summaries, with returning COGS and SEIU members set to earn additional 3% increases both years.
For university staff and faculty not organized under a union, representatives from the UI faculty senate and staff council, ISU faculty senate and professional and scientific council and UNI professional and scientific council spoke to the board Thursday about their work and the need for salary increases.
Caroline Sheerin, UI faculty senate president and law professor, said when adjusted for inflation, what she makes as a professor 20 years into the role is less than half of what she made in her first year of practicing law.
“You’ll just have to believe me when I say that the reason we do this work is not because we are looking to be heavily compensated,” Sheerin said. “The doctors, lawyers and engineers who draw a paycheck from this institution could be making far, far more money in the private sector.”
Faculty members work year-round, despite having nine-month contracts and the summer supposedly off, because they love teaching, researching, treating patients and more. Any increases to compensation the board can implement for faculty and staff would be “very welcome,” she said.
UNI Museum Director and Chief Curator Nathan Arndt spoke to the board on behalf of the 631 members of the professional and scientific council, of which almost half work in academic advancement as teachers or teaching support, he said.
All professional and scientific staff are essential to maintaining UNI as a “robust and healthy living learning community,” he said, and by better supporting them, the board would help both the students, institution and state as a whole.
“While it often goes unnoticed or unmentioned, many in this group feel they are often ignored, written off or overworked,” Arndt said. “Their drive to our student success is what keeps us passionate about our work, and I encourage you, the board of regents, to pay more attention.”
Jason Follett, ISU academic advisor and president of the professional and scientific council, concurred that the people he works with have been feeling “undervalued for some time.” While he applauded the work of the board and its staff, including the formation of a legislative committee, he said universities are still facing flat or lessening funding from the state, students are still dealing with rising tuition and outdated facilities and salaries are not keeping pace with costs.
Follett issued a challenge to members of the board on behalf of his team — work with lawmakers in both parties and advocate for ISU and employees of other state universities in order to show their importance to their institutions and the state.
“Just as we expect our elected officials to be responsive and engaged, the professional scientific council humbly requests that regents themselves be more active and visible beyond these meetings and through staff and press releases,” Follett said. “Get out and be proactive versus reactive and inactive.”
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