Iowa / State / 91st General Assembly, 2026 Regular Session

2026 Iowa Acts ch 1058 (H.F. 2491) Created a last-dollar tuition and mandatory fee waiver at Regents institutions for a veteran rated 100 percent

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Signed 2026-04-30 · Takes effect 2026-07-01

Added a new subsection 43 to Iowa Code section 262.9 directing the state board of regents to have the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa waive all tuition and mandatory fees for a veteran, as defined in section 35.1, with a permanent service-connected disability rating of one hundred percent as certified by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs who applies to and is admitted for enrollment. Paragraph "b" then conditions it: the veteran is eligible only if "not eligible for or has exhausted any other available federal or state sources of financial assistance for such tuition and fees, including but not limited to the Pell grant program and education benefits from the United States department of veterans affairs", and the institution prorates the waiver each semester to cover only the difference between other federal and state assistance obtained and the tuition and fees. Tracked and flagged for two reasons. First, the last-dollar condition means a veteran holding unexhausted Post-9/11 GI Bill entitlement is not eligible, so the benefit will be described as free tuition for every 100 percent disabled Iowa veteran and is not. Second, the subsection has no individual unemployability route, while the Iowa disabled veteran homestead tax credit expressly reaches a permanent and total rating based on individual unemployability paid at the 100 percent rate, so a veteran VA pays at the 100 percent rate through unemployability gets the property tax credit and does not, on these words, get the tuition waiver.