The state’s public universities would have to freeze undergraduate tuition for the next five years, under a bill (HF 2242) advanced out of the Iowa House.
The tuition freeze would be in place until July 2031.
According to a fiscal note on the bill, the state’s public universities could lose nearly $200 million in revenue during that period.
Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, said the bill gives students predictability and pushes universities to budget more conservatively.
“We’re at a point when it comes to higher education that we can’t just keep giving them more money and hoping and praying they don’t raise tuition. And so that’s one of the reasons why we move forward this tuition freeze is to make sure we’re drawing a line in the sand,” Collins said. “We have to find other ways to cut expenditures to be more efficient.”
The bill is separate from two proposals to lock in freshman-year tuition rates throughout a student’s undergrad degree.
The bill passed 86-5 and next heads to the Senate.