Funding cuts undermine Iowa’s public universities

By John Rigby, Lyndsay Harshman, Erika Hayes and Donna Lancianese

----

Our university is nearing a critical juncture.

Public universities in Iowa receive revenue from two main sources: state appropriations and tuition. During the past two fiscal years, state appropriations have decreased 20 percent, resulting in a nearly $140 million loss to Iowa public universities. Since 2001, the Board of Regents budget needed to fund our public universities has decreased by 25 percent.

At the same time, the state has increased its overall spending 13 percent, with K-12 education spending increased 30 percent.

Meanwhile, funding to Iowa public universities was cut to a level where, in fiscal year 2010, only five other states had reduced state appropriations for education more than Iowa.

This trend is alarming. To put the depth of these cuts into perspective, consider the following: If the regents desired to meet the deficit that has been absorbed by Iowa public universities during the past two fiscal years alone, students at Iowa public universities would encounter a 26 percent tuition increase to meet the current deficit.

In addition to the budget cuts the state has imposed on our public universities since 2001, the Iowa House of Representatives recently passed HR45, which decreases the Board of Regents budget for public universities by $25 million next fiscal year and retroactively decreases this fiscal year's budget by $10 million. The additional budget cuts proposed in the House, and still in debate in the Senate, would further raise the theoretical tuition “increase” needed to erase the deficit, by

29 percent.

Although our state legislators have found public universities a prime target for budget cuts, they could consider that yearly, private universities in Iowa receive approximately $45 million in state funding to provide assistance for students to attend private universities in Iowa. This is the Iowa Tuition Grant Program. The House has selected none of the aid for private schools for budget cuts.

If state appropriations continue to decrease, tuition will certainly become the primary means to fund universities in Iowa. You can take action to help prevent a further decrease in state appropriations for our public universities.

If you are from Iowa, write your hometown legislator and ask your parents, friends and family to do so, as well. You can find your legislator at: www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/house.aspx. If you are from out of state, contact a member of the education appropriations committee: www.legis.iowa.gov/Schedules/committee.aspx?GA=84&CID=35.

Additionally, contact your student governments at the University of Iowa. We are lobbying in Des Moines for you and would appreciate your presence with us in speaking with legislators about the great things our university has done and continues to do, and why funding higher public education is a sound investment for the state and nation.

A public education is a public good, and we must never forget that.

Co-authored by John Rigby, president, University of Iowa Student Government; Lyndsay Harshman, president, UI Executive Council of Graduate & Professional Students; Erika Hayes, vice president, UISG; and Donna Lancianese, vice president, ECGPS. Comments: john-rigby@uiowa.edu or lyndsay-harshman@uiowa.edu