Providing for a waiver of undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees and a stipend at regents institutions for Iowa residents who receive the maximum score on certain standardized tests

Description

House File 577 requires the Board of Regents to waive undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees for Iowa residents who achieve the highest possible score on the American College Test (ACT), the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and the Classic Learning Test (CLT). Additionally, eligible students will receive a $5,000 stipend per semester, provided they maintain satisfactory academic progress toward graduation as defined by the Board.

Background

Currently, there is no existing program in Iowa that provides full tuition waivers or stipends based solely on a student achieving a perfect score on a college entrance exam. Other merit-based scholarships at Regents institutions, such as those provided through institutional scholarship programs, do not guarantee full tuition coverage or stipends for perfect scores. The ACT was created in 1959 by University of Iowa professor Everett Franklin Lindquist as an alternative to the SAT, which was widely used by Iowa colleges and universities since the late 1930s. The Board of Regents currently uses the CLT, which was created in 2015, and accepts this test for individual admission decisions, but the CLT is not included in the Regent Admission Index. In Iowa, only 2.0% of high school students took the SAT, 48.0% took the ACT, and less than 1.0% took the CLT in academic year 2024. Figure 1 shows the number of perfect scores in the State by academic year.

Figure 1 — Perfect Iowa Test Scores 2022-2024 Figure 2 shows the estimated in-state undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees for FY 2025 for Iowa’s three Regents universities.

Figure 2 — FY 2025 Tuition and Mandatory FeesHigh School Graduating Cohort ACT (36) SAT (1,600) CLT (120) Academic Year 2022 36 0 0 Academic Year 2023 17 0 0 Academic Year 2024 16 0 0 Average 23 0 0Tuition Mandatory Fees Total University of Iowa (SUI) 9,300$ 2,000$ 11,300$ Iowa State University (ISU) 9,300 1,500 10,800 University of Northern Iowa (UNI) 8,600 1,400 10,000

Assumptions

• A total of 23 high school students are estimated to receive a perfect score each year.
• It is estimated that 25.0% (six students) per year will attend an Iowa university or college and utilize this program, reaching 24 students in FY 2029.
• The waiver assumes each student remains enrolled for a standard four-year undergraduate degree program, maintains satisfactory grades, and graduates on time.
• The $5,000 per semester stipend equates to $10,000 per year, per student.
• Tuition and mandatory fees are expected to increase 3.4% at SUI and ISU and 2.5% at UNI based on the average of 10 years of tuition and fee increases.
• The fiscal impact will vary based on the university attended. This estimate is based on a range of tuition rates that will be waived.

Fiscal Impact

When the program is at its estimated full enrollment of 24 students in FY 2029, the estimated total fiscal impact is approximately $509,000 to $550,000. This includes $269,000 to $310,000 in reduced tuition revenue and an increase in stipend costs of $240,000. Figure 3 — Estimated Fiscal Impact of HF 577

Sources

• Board of Regents
• Department of Education
• LSA calculations