CEDAR FALLS - University of Northern Iowa officials said they will try to recoup more than $250,000 owed to them by the families who allegedly did not pay the appropriate tuition and fees to enroll their students at Malcolm Price Laboratory School.

President Benjamin Allen said Wednesday the school will "pursue the recommendation of the auditor and take all appropriate legal steps for recovering" the money.

The state Auditor's Office said earlier this month the school was owed more than $250,000 in tuition and fees from a total of 12 families, including the school's former director, David Smith, and Waterloo Democrat lawmaker State Rep. Kerry Burt. The audit investigated the time between July 1, 2006 and March 31, 2009, though in some instances investigators looked further back in the records. The Division of Criminal Investigation has been investigating a possible white-collar crime at the school since April.

Of the dozen families, nine used others' addresses to pay a lower rate to attend the school. Three other families gave correct home addresses but were not asked to pay full tuition charges.

Elementary students living within the Price Lab zone, any Cedar Falls middle and high school student and students who open enroll into the school can attend for about $550. Cedar Falls elementary students and those denied open enrollment can pay about $5,500 tuition. The school, part of UNI's College of Education, provides teacher education and research at early childhood, elementary, middle and high school levels.

Though some of the auditor's recommendations are already in place, Allen said some included "complex financial and legal questions" that need to be put before external counsel to ensure proper implementation.

Jim O'Connor, the university's assistant vice president of marketing and public relations, said in addition to legal and financial sanctions administrators are also contemplating if or how the findings will impact any current employees named in the audit.

"This is unchartered territory for us. The situation is not as clear cut as other personnel matters have been in the past," O'Connor said. "We have to determine the appropriate course of action that needs to be taken so we can make sure we are doing the right thing."

Allen and Gloria Gibson, the university's new executive vice president and provost, are working with several UNI departments on determining the next step.

"While the legal rules governing MPLS are complex and the details of the transactions examined by the auditor are complicated, the principles of good practice that UNI needs to implement emerge clearly from both the internal and state audit reports," Allen said in the prepared release. "To achieve our aspirations of becoming the premier institution for undergraduate education in the state of Iowa and among the best in the United States for teacher education and educational research, we need to do better."