Iowa State University president talks about tuition rate decision during stop in Mason City Monday

MASON CITY — The president of Iowa State University says the tuition increase approved last week by the Iowa Board of Regents was necessary after the schools did not get enough support from the Iowa Legislature this year.

Wendy Wintersteen says it was a hard decision to make, but with the limited amount of state support, it was the right decision for the students and staff at all three of the Regents universities. She says the universities are working to help students who need more financial aid to help offset the increase.  “I think any time you increase the costs that does increase the burden, but I know that Iowa State University and the other two universities work hard to raise funds for scholarships, to support students with work study program opportunities, so there’s a lot of work done on the other side to help reduce the overall cost to the student.”

Wintersteen says she’ll continue to work on educating legislators and the general public about why more funding in the future is in the best interest of the state.  “Today at Rotary, I tried to talk about what a great return on investment the Regent universities are for this state. I talked about the large amount of funding we bring in for research to support our students with scholarships and other ways, and then the impact when we have the Research Park that engages with business and industry all across the state. I just don’t think we’ve done a good enough job being able to tell that story, and we’re going to work on it harder.”

Wintersteen was in Mason City Monday to talk with members of the Mason City Noon Rotary Club.

The base undergraduate tuition rate at Iowa State has been increased $354 to $8678. It was increased $355 at the University of Iowa up to $8711, while UNI saw an increase of $331 to $8111.