Legislators not convinced new budget will help 2-year schools

DES MOINES - Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter tried to allay lawmakers' fears that rewarding public universities for enrolling in-state students will come at the expense of community and private colleges.

Universities are not looking for dramatic in-state enrollment growth and will not lower admission standards to attract more students, Rastetter said repeatedly during a wide ranging, three-hour meeting with the House Appropriations Committee meeting Monday. His answers seemed to do little to alleviate those concerns.

'I don't think that gives community college and private colleges any comfort,” Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, said. Their margins are 'so thin that if they lose more students, they are in danger of closing.”

What's more, she said, as the pool of Iowa high school graduates shrinks, the competition for them will intensify.

Iowa's high school graduating class, with as many as 37,549 students in 2003, is expected to be 33,932 this fall. It's projected to be 34,200 in 2020.

'The feedback I get from community colleges and private colleges is they don't support this and have grave reservations about its impact,” Mascher said.

She's referring to the regents' plan to begin performance-based budgeting with 60 percent of the funding for Iowa State University, University of Iowa, and University of Northern Iowa based on in-state enrollment.

The rest of the budget would tie 15 percent of a university's funds to student credit hours and the number of graduates; 10 percent to access, such as the diversity of students including race, incomes, military service, and community college transfers; 5 percent to graduate and professional students; 5 percent sponsored research; and 5 percent to regents' discretion. Supporters of the new funding model say it's a much-improved formula because it ties state dollars to regent and university goals and provides stronger support for higher education.

However, Rep. Chris Hall, D-Sioux City, voiced concern that the funding plan may create an adversarial atmosphere between the regents and community colleges.

Rastetter also said regents universities can boost enrollment by more aggressively recruiting about 5,000 Iowa high school graduates who go to out-of-state schools each year.

Agreements with community colleges making it easier for students to transfer from two-year schools will figure into the effort to raise in-state enrollment, he said.

Iowa will be the 34th state to use a performance-based funding model, Rastetter said.

'It shouldn't be a novel idea for state taxpayer dollars, to a certain extent, following in-state students,” he said.