Even amid shrinking state appropriations, students at Iowa’s public universities saw a 5 percent increase in financial aid this last academic year as the universities pushed to total amount to $1.09 billion.Although most of that total came from the federal government — largely in the form of loans — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa all increased undergraduate aid in the 2016-17 academic year, primarily in the form of grants, scholarships and employment opportunities, according to a new Board of Regents report.Regents and university administrators have stressed the need to increase aid in hopes of mitigating tuition increases, which have been proposed again for next year, and enrolling more first-generation and underrepresented Iowans — like Miguel Jacobo, 18, of West Liberty.The UI freshman, majoring in Spanish and biology on a pre-med track, said his dad migrated from Mexico and his mom dropped out of middle school to take care of her siblings.