‘Funding wars’ on Iowa campuses?

With tens of millions of dollars at stake, the University of Iowa has big plans to expand its use of paid advertising, online communication, earned news coverage and outreach visits to aggressively recruit in-state students.

Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa officials said they, too, intend to focus on attracting more college-bound Iowans after the Board of Regents on Wednesday approved a new model for allocating state higher-education funds to its three universities that ties 60 percent of the dollars to resident enrollment.

If the breakdown of resident and non-resident students remains unchanged at the three institutions, the UI would lose nearly $47.8 million in appropriations under the new funding model.

'Our goal is to make it clear to every Iowan that we are not only the University of Iowa, we are the university for Iowa, and we are the university with Iowa,' said Joseph Brennan, UI vice president of strategic communication.

'We must sharpen our efforts. We must become more aggressive in our student recruitment efforts. And we will become more aggressive.'

But some state, regent and university leaders have expressed concern about what ramped up competition among Iowa's public universities could mean for the campuses, the state and its residents.

The state legislature must approve the Board of Regents annual budget, including how it intends to allocate funds to each university, and Sen. Joe Bolkcom for one said he doesn't support the new funding metrics.

'I appreciate the work that has gone into this, but I don't want to create incentives that undermine the terrific universities we have in our state,' Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said. 'I think the legislature will want to have its voice heard in this conversation.'

Bolkcom said he's concerned about how tying so much money to in-state enrollment might affect the universities' budgets, programming, missions and diversity. He's concerned about how the public push for more local students might affect private and community colleges in the state. He expressed concern about what it might do to admission standards and the state's economy.

'It's one thing to have a strong recruitment effort that gets information in the mailbox and in the email account of every graduating senior in Iowa,' he said. 'It's another to base 60 percent of an institution's state support on aggressively seeking these graduates.'

Competition is for sports

Bolkcom said he thinks UNI historically has been underfunded, and he supports solving that problem. But, he said, the pool of college-bound Iowans has been shrinking in recent years, and he doesn't think it makes sense to tie so much money to that one metric.

'I think competition between these three great public universities is best left to their sports teams,' he said.

The regents' new funding model also ties 15 percent of state allocations to progress and attainment, 10 percent to access, 5 percent to graduate and professional student enrollment, 5 percent to sponsored research, and 5 percent is left up to the regents.

Regents plan to roll out the new metrics over a three-year period beginning in the 2016 budget year, capping the amount of money that can move from university to university each year at 2 percent of the 2013 budget.

With that cap, if enrollment proportions at the universities remain unchanged, the UI would lose $12.9 million of its appropriations a year — money that would be split 50-50 between the other two schools.

Former Regent David Miles, who led the task force charged with reviewing Iowa's funding model, said he thinks the new methodology better aligns state funding with regent goals and more appropriately subsidizes in-state student tuition.

'One size fits all'

But Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, said he thinks the regent-approved model is a 'one-size-fits-all' solution to a complicated problem. He said graduate and professional students cost more to educate than undergraduate liberal arts students, for example, and the funding should reflect that.

As the model sits, Dvorsky said, Iowa is going to end up with a 'recruiting war.'

'I don't begrudge money to UNI or Iowa State, but there has got to be a better way to do it,' he said. 'And I'm going to work on that.'

Dvorsky said regent budgets are recommendations, and the legislature has the final say.

'We are the appropriators, and we will make the decision on what is right and what is appropriate,' Dvorsky said. 'This is a recommendation and just the start of the process.'

Senate democrats, according to Dvorsky, are 'interested in having a plan that does justice to all three universities and the different types of students we have.'

Rep. Bob M. Kressig, D-Cedar Falls, said UNI's funding shortfalls needed to be addressed, and he thinks the new funding model does that.

'I do think the proposal that has come out will be beneficial to UNI,' he said. 'But I also see that the other universities — Iowa and Iowa State — probably will be very active and engaged in recruiting Iowa students.'

And, Kressig said, he's unsure what effect that will have.

'I am a strong supporter of the three schools — I believe in them and think they're vital to our state,' he said. 'I don't want to get into a war over the funding.'

UI spokesman Brennan said his team is planning a recruiting campaign that will touch every corner of the state. Plans will include more television and online advertising and information distributed via billboards and in shopping malls, airports and even ballparks.

'We are planning some very interested and creative things,' Brennan said.

In recent years, he said, the UI maintained its student body while recovering from the devastating 2008 flooding.

'Now we are poised for growth,' he said.

Emil Rinderspacher, associate director of UI admissions, said his staff has been looking at its campus visit experience since regents began discussing the drastic funding change and since Board President Bruce Rastetter last month challenged the UI to improve its campus tours.

The UI, for starters, is planning events to bring more visitors to campus, Rinderspacher said.

'That is the most important recruitment activity, so we are working on that,' he said.

At Iowa State, student growth has surged of late, and ISU now boasts the largest student body in the state. Stephanie Salasek, associate director of ISU admissions, said ISU welcomes 30,000-some admissions visitors every year, and the feedback has been positive.

So the university isn't planning to change anything about its campus visit, she said. But it could.

'We will continue to provide families with what they want,' she said.