UI representative issues ‘minority report’ for regent funding proposal

A proposed change to the way state dollars are allocated to Iowa's three public universities could have unintended consequences - like forcing institutions to reduce enrollment of graduate and professional students, according to a member of the task force that drafted the new funding model.

Len Hadley, retired CEO of Maytag Corp. and the University of Iowa's representative on the five-person task force, was the one member who did not support a proposal that could strip the UI of $60 million in appropriations - if the changes were implemented over one year.

The Board of Regents at its June meeting will consider implementing that proposal, which would tie 60 percent of state-allocated higher education funds to resident enrollment. The task force is recommending rolling out the new model over a two- to four-year period and capping the amount of money that could move from one university to another each year at 1 to 2 percent of the 2013 budget.

But Hadley has prepared a 'minority report” for regents to consider at next week's meeting that he says would further mitigate any unintended detrimental consequences. His recommendations make three primary changes to the original proposal, which ties 60 percent of state appropriations to resident enrollment, 15 percent to progress and attainment, 10 percent to access, 5 percent to job placement, and the last 10 percent is left to the regents to decide.

Hadley suggests weighting enrollment allocations based on type of student - providing more money for health sciences and doctoral degree students, like medical and dental students, and less money for undergraduates earning bachelor's degrees.

'There are significantly higher costs associated with graduate and professional degree programs,” Hadley wrote in his report. 'The model proposed by the committee does not provide adequate funding to support these needed programs.”

He responded to arguments that those types of students become professionals who earn higher salaries and therefore should be expected to pay higher tuition to support their education.

'Many of our young Iowans in these programs are graduating with large amounts of debt,” he wrote. 'We must be careful that the new funding model does not cause tuition to grow so high that our young professionals need to leave Iowa and move to large cities where they can earn salaries that will allow them to pay off larger loans.”

Hadley also suggested guaranteeing each university a base amount of 20 percent of its current general education appropriation 'to reduce the risk.” The remaining 80 percent of the appropriation could be split between enrollment and outcome measures, according to Hadley.

Lastly, Hadley recommended taking longer than recommended to phase in the changes. Instead of rolling out the measures over two to four years beginning in 2016, he suggested phasing them in over four to six years beginning in 2017.

'Our three public universities are very good - but they can't turn on a dime, nor do we want them to,” he wrote. 'It is good public policy for the board to grant them the time to develop and implement sound, thoughtful strategies for responding to the policy directions.”

The task force has argued that tying the majority of state appropriations to resident enrollment is important not simply as a matter of equity, but for practical reasons.

'Let us not forget that resident tuition does not cover the full cost of an Iowa student's education at any of our universities,” according to the report.