Community, private colleges overlooked

To the editor:

Did the Iowa Board of Regents intentionally establish a funding plan designed to create more inefficiencies in Iowa's higher education system? They have required that 60 percent of the funding going to each university be determined by the number of in-state students enrolled. By this action, they are pushing each sector of Iowa's higher education system to spend more dollars chasing a nearly fixed number of Iowa high school graduates.

The University of Iowa is already reporting ('Efforts to boost UI enrollment are ‘paying off,'” Dec. 12) that they are hiring additional admission professionals and will need more faculty, more classroom space and more dormitory rooms to handle their anticipated increase in in-state students. If their expectations are correct, Iowa's community colleges and private colleges will be forced to leave classrooms empty, reduce faculty and cut other services. Community colleges and private colleges cost Iowa taxpayers less per student than the universities. We end up moving Iowa students to our most expensive option, the universities, while under using our community colleges and private colleges. It does not make sense to me.

Terry Moran

Cedar Rapids