Budget proposal would enable tuition freeze - Tara Bannow, Iowa City Press-Citizen

Gov. Terry Branstad’s budget released Tuesday paves the way for a tuition freeze at the University of Iowa in the upcoming school year, but it leaves funding for need-based financial aid up in the air. The budget recommends appropriating $222 million from the state’s general fund to UI in fiscal year 2014, which begins July 1 — the same amount of money UI had requested. The budget calls for more than $483 million in general fund dollars to go to Iowa’s three public universities, which includes UI, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. That includes the 2.6 percent increase from the last fiscal year that the Iowa state Board of Regents requested for each school, which regents said was necessary to make the tuition freeze possible. Branstad also is recommending an additional boost to UNI, which is having significant financial problems. http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20130116/NEWS01/301160033/Budget-proposal-would-enable-tuition-freeze?nclick_check=1