Fees for Obtaining Public Records

The University of Northern Iowa’s fees are as follows:

• $30 per hour for actual time spent locating, retrieving, reviewing for exempt content, redacting, and copying documents and/or for supervising the examination of public records. There is no charge if the time spent on those tasks is less than one hour.
• 25 cents per page for copies if more than 20 pages must be copied to complete a request. If the requester would like paper copies scanned into an electronic format, the cost of scanning will be charged at the same rate as the cost of photocopies.
• There is a minimum charge of $75 for computer programming time when records must be extracted from computer databases.  For requests that take more than one hour, the fee is $75 per hour.
• $20 for a standard or established list. If the list is not standard or established, then labor and computer programming charges will be charged as applicable.
• Mailing costs will be billed at the University’s actual cost

As a general rule, the University of Northern Iowa provides cost estimates to requesters if charges to complete a request will exceed $25.

If the charges will exceed $25, or if the requester has failed to pay for previous open records requests, the University may require advance payment prior to locating, retrieving, reviewing for exempt content, redacting, and copying public documents based on the cost estimate provided to the requester.  (UNI always provides a fee estimate before proceeding if a fee is involved, in addition UNI requires the fee estimate to be paid in advance of the data being compiled.)

Checks for open records requests are to be made payable to the University of Northern Iowa.