Tuition rates and faculty professional development assignment requests for next year, a revised budget for the football stadium expansion and plans and a budget for a new residence hall are Iowa State items on the state Board of Regents' Dec. 3 agenda. While officially a telephonic event, the meeting will originate from the boardroom at Iowa State's Alumni Center. A live audio stream will be available on the board's website.
Iowa State will request professional development assignments for 37 faculty members (PDF, pp. 26-32) -- 17 male and 20 female -- for the year that begins July 1, 2015. The list includes eight academic-year proposals, 24 semester-long proposals and five proposals requiring from three to six months away from regular faculty duties. The eight full academic year requests will generate $239,880 in salary savings, which lowers the net replacement cost to the university to $144,120.
The three regent universities have separate eligibility policies for PDAs. At Iowa State, any faculty member employed at least halftime is eligible to apply for a professional development assignment. There is no requirement on length of service.
Third tuition freeze
A third straight tuition freeze for resident undergraduate students has been added to the December agenda, with an option to extend it to all resident students or all students. At its October meeting, the board reviewed proposed rate increases of 1.75 percent for resident students (undergraduate and graduate), 1.2 percent for all out-of-state students and 3.2 percent for all veterinary medicine students. Regent Larry McKibben proposed the freeze and several members expressed their support for it.
A freeze for resident undergraduates would keep tuition at $6,648 in 2015-16. Mandatory fees would go up a proposed $4.50, to $1,087.90.
Jack Trice Stadium
The athletics department is asking to add $7 million to the budget for the Jack Trice Stadium south end expansion, bumping the project budget to $53 million. The increase is due to both additions to the project and a competitive central Iowa construction market that added as much as 10 percent over estimated costs to bids. The increase would be funded by reallocating funds to the stadium work from its companion project to develop the green space between Reiman Gardens and the stadium. That budget would go from $14 million to $7 million.
New residence hall
The residence department will seek a final green light from the board for a $49.5 million, 700-bed residence hall east of Buchanan Hall on Lincoln Way. As designed, each floor would hold 50 residents in each of two houses (north and west wings). The project would be funded by two dormitory revenue bond sales (spring and fall 2015). Construction could begin in May 2015, with the hall ready for occupants in January 2017.
Other business
Liberal Arts and Sciences associate dean for finance and operations Arne Hallum will give a presentation to the board's education and student affairs committee titled "Preserving and Building Academic Quality Amid Record Enrollment." That committee meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Alumni Center's Horton conference room.
The board also will act on a regents policy manual change (Chapter 8) that, for purposes of tuition and fees, would extend resident status to veterans and their dependents enrolled in a graduate or professional program and receiving benefits under the post-9/11 GI Bill and the Montgomery Bill.
Have something to say?
The meeting begins at 9:15 a.m. with committee meetings. The full board session will begin after lunch and should conclude by 3 p.m. Members of the public who want to provide input to board members on any Dec. 3 agenda item may do so at the pre-meeting public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 20 (6-7 p.m., Memorial Union Oak Room).
