(Radio Iowa) – Private colleges in Iowa have been cutting their tuition costs in an effort to retain students. Graceland College in Lamoni is the latest, with president Pat Draves making the announcement Tuesday.

She says cost has become one of the biggest factors for students in selecting a school.

Graves says that left them without the chance to even discuss what they had to offer.

Wartburg College in Waverly recently announced it was reducing its published tuition price by more than 45 percent to 25-thousand dollars. Wartburg president, Rebecca Ehretsman says that is part of an overall plan.

Wartburg also offers students what they call the “Knights Experience Fund. ”

Ehretsman says scholarships and other programs sometimes don’t get figured in when students are searching for a school.

Ehretsman says that is even more important with the nationwide drop in college students after the pandemic.

Wartburg has an enrollment of around 15-hundred students.