REPORT: Inflation, tuition hike make life unaffordable for these students

The Iowa Board of Regents announced it will increase tuition by 4.25% for the 2022-23 school year as inflation hit a record high of 9.1% in June, according to the Consumer Price Index.  

The Iowa Board of Regents voted on the proposed increase at their meeting on July 27. 

The Board of Regents met in June to discuss raising tuition to combat inflation.

During the Board of Regents’ June 20 meeting, Rachel Sorenson, vice president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate at Iowa State University, claimed she became homeless over the summer due to the rising cost of living.

“We are having departments shut down. We’re having students not be able to get funding in the summer,” she said. “We’re having students who are actually homeless in the summer, and they’re trying to raise extra money at this point to pay their tuition if they are master’s students, and then it is extremely difficult for them.”

[RELATED: ‘Shameful’: California College Republicans protest state gas taxes]

Student government representatives from all three major schools in Iowa, the University of Iowa, Iowa State, and the University of Northern Iowa, echoed Sorenson’s concerns at the meeting. 

University of Iowa student government senator Kyle Clare told Campus Reform that he has a slightly different perspective. 

“It is very disappointing that the Board of Regents had to raise in-state tuition by 4.25%, but I think the bigger problem here is inflation,” he said. The inflation rate has hit 9.1% which is a tax on all Americans, not just students.”

Clare also said that a better solution would be cutting “unnecessary spending” but that the Board of Regents’ hands are tied if inflation doesn’t go down.

“The best way to help our funding problems would be for the university to identify unnecessary spending and cut that before they raise our rates,” he said. “However, the board of regents is helpless to do anything if our economy does not get back on track, which would solve many monetary problems.”

[RELATED: Researchers get $40k to study why kids like White men]

Campus Reform has covered other universities increasing tuition due to rising inflation. 

Boston University implemented the largest tuition increase in the last 14 years after record inflation. Tuition for BU students will increase by 4.25% in 2022-23. 

Students at Carnegie Mellon University were hit with a 4% increase while the employees were given a $1,500 payment to help offset inflation. 

A Campus Reform analysis determined that 27 of the top 30 American universities are raising tuition for the upcoming school year by an average of 3.7%. 

Campus Reform reached out to Iowa State, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, Rachel Sorenson, Carnegie Mellon University, and Boston University.

Follow @kliseanderson on Twitter