Board of Regents approves budget, will keep asking for money to follow Iowans

The Board of Regents on Wednesday approved its $5.47 billion budget for the 2016 fiscal year - including institutional budgets worth $3.7 billion at University of Iowa, $1.4 billion at Iowa State University, and $346 million at University of Northern Iowa.

The budgets took into consideration a small increase in state appropriations for general university operations of less than one-half percent - ISU saw a $1.2 million increase to its base funding, UNI saw a $5.1 million increase in based funding, and UI saw no increase.

The Board of Regents had asked for $21.7 million in new state money, and the shortfall prompted the Board of Regents to propose a 3 percent tuition increase for resident undergraduate students in the spring semester.

That increase would add $100 to those students' tuition bills for the term, and it would mark the first tuition hike since fall 2012. The board discussed the tuition proposal Wednesday but won't vote on it until September. No members expressed opposition to the proposed rise.

Board President Bruce Rastetter said the need for more tuition revenue exemplifies the board's justification of a 'performance based funding” model it proposed last summer. He said resident student tuition doesn't cover the cost to educate those students, which is why the board asked lawmakers to approve the model that tied a majority of appropriations to resident enrollment.

The model could have pulled millions from UI and redistributed it between UNI and ISU, which enroll more resident students. But lawmakers rejected the proposal, citing concerns about potential impacts on graduate programming and on competition with private and community colleges in the state.

Still, Rastetter on Wednesday said the board will continue asking lawmakers to tie more money to in-state enrollment.

'We will continue to be asking for that,” Rastetter said.

Meanwhile, ISU President Steve Leath said his institution - which enrolls the most resident students among the three - said he's expecting even more growth this fall. Leath didn't give specific figures, but said he expected it to be twice UI's growth and on par with ISU's most recent enrollment surges.

'We are scrambling a little,” Leath said.

Last fall, Iowa State enrolled 34,732 - marking the largest enrollment in school history and a 4.5 percent increase over the previous record of 33,241 in 2013. It was the sixth year of record enrollment and the eighth straight year of growth.

Regarding resident students, ISU counted 18,478 undergraduate Iowans - or 64 percent of ISU's undergraduate student body. Overall, 20,260 Iowans enrolled at ISU last fall.

At UNI, total enrollment dropped last fall to 11,928 - 231 fewer students than in fall 2013. And UNI President Bill Ruud on Wednesday presented at 2016 budget that included a $1.4 million drop in operating revenue from the 2015 budget year. That, in part, was the result of a $2.4 million drop in tuition revenue.

Ruud said his university had to shift some of its resources based on priorities and is hopeful that enrollment will start to trend up this fall.