KDSN RADIO News
University of Northern Iowa offering new ‘Neighboring State’ tuition rate
University of Northern Iowa students from the six states that surround Iowa will be able to pay the lower tuition rate Iowa residents pay, starting this fall.
In January, Governor Reynolds recommended spending $3 million in state tax dollars to support the initiative, but lawmakers set aside half that much in the legislature’s budget plan and Reynolds vetoed the money. UNI is using funds from its foundation to finance the new “Neighboring State Rate” for new students from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
The move is a way to address the state’s workforce shortage, according to UNI president Mark Nook, who has indicated up to half of UNI students wind up working in Iowa after graduation. “We’ve got to find a way to grow the number of workers in this state and that means grow the population,” Nook told a legislative committee reviewing the plan.
Nook has estimated that up to 300 out-of-state UNI graduates would take a job in Iowa each year. “They’re each leaving us $10,000 in tuition for four years and $10,000 in room and board whether it’s to us — UNI — or to private rental properties in Cedar Falls,” Nook said. “…While they’re being educated, they will leave $54 million in the Iowa economy every single year.”
About 450 students from neighboring states were enrolled at UNI this spring. The Board of Regents will meet later this month and is scheduled to vote on UNI’s “Neighboring State Rate” for tuition. Other states have similar programs. Wisconsin residents may pay in-state tuition at public universities in Minnesota and Minnesotans who go to public universities in Wisconsin can pay the same rate as Wisconsin residents.
