Relating to the bachelor of science in nursing program at the university of Iowa, including priority for admission and reporting requirements

Description

House File 2226 requires the Board of Regents (BOR) to adopt a policy, not later than December 31, 2026, that requires no less than 70.0% of students admitted to the University of Iowa (SUI) College of Nursing to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) to be Iowa residents or individuals who were enrolled at an Iowa postsecondary institution prior to application, beginning with the Fall 2027 semester. All applications for admission to the College of Nursing are required to attest to their residency status.

House File 2226 requires the SUI to submit an annual report to the General Assembly regarding the residency and acceptance rates of applicants to the College of Nursing in the preceding calendar year.

Background

The SUI College of Nursing is one of the State’s primary public nursing programs and admits students through multiple pathways, including direct admission and admission after the first year of undergraduate study. Current admissions practices do not require a fixed residency percentage.

The College of Nursing directly admitted 87 students in the Fall 2025 cohort and estimates an additional 94 students in the nursing interest cohort will be accepted in their second or third year. The College of Nursing had a total of 671 students enrolled in the Fall of 2025. The BOR votes on the following academic year’s tuition rate increases in June of each year. An example of the proposed 2025-2026 tuition and mandatory fees is on the BOR website.

Assumptions

• The residency requirement will first apply to the Fall 2027 cohort (FY 2028).
• The number of total students and the residency ratio of the current law admissions is expected to remain constant compared to Fall 2025.
• Each cohort is assumed to lose 5.0% of the student count in each succeeding year.
• Of the 671 students enrolled in the College of Nursing during Fall 2025, 61.3% were Iowa residents and 38.7% were nonresidents.
• The FY 2026 nonresident tuition for the College of Nursing is $36,527 per year, compared to $15,243 for resident students.
• Tuition is estimated to increase by 1.7% per year for nonresident and 4.2% for resident students. This increase is based on the average increase per year over the prior five academic years.
• Nonresident students will decrease from 38.7% to 30.0% of annual admissions over four years.
• Calculations do not account for the presence of any grants, scholarships, or otherwise discounted tuition rates.

Fiscal Impact

House File 2226 is estimated to decrease revenues to the SUI College of Nursing by $683,000 in FY 2028, $998,000 in FY 2029, $1.3 million in FY 2030, and $1.3 million in FY 2031. Figure 1 shows estimated tuition revenue decreases by fiscal year.

Figure 1 — Decreased Annual Tuition Revenue

Year Resident Nonresident Difference

Students

Impacted Total Impact

FY 2028 16,546 38,796 -22,250 31 -683,231 FY 2029 17,238 39,446 -22,208 45 -997,557 FY 2030 17,959 40,108 -22,148 58 -1,293,881 FY 2031 18,711 40,780 -22,069 58 -1,289,253

Sources

• Board of Regents
• University of Iowa
• LSA calculations