For the first time since the Board of Regents in 2016 scolded Iowa’s public universities for their regular and — at times significant — annual room and board rate hikes, Iowa State University and University of Iowa are proposing residence system rate increases for next year reaching 3 percent.
A federal judge Tuesday ruled University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics not only violated state wage laws by paying workers late, but it did so intentionally and now must pay “liquidated damages” to as many as 8,000 current and former UIHC employees.
As competition for domestic and international students surges following pandemic-propelled enrollment losses, U.S. News & World Report’s oft-cited rankings continue to hold weight – including for Iowa’s public universities, which in new 2023 graduate program lists out Tuesday slipped in some areas and made gains in others.
Fewer international students have been enrolling in Iowa’s public universities for years – even before COVID-19 locked down travel and crippled the campus’ global reach – and lawmakers on Monday probed the Board of Regents for an answer to why.
Instead of granting the Board of Regents’ ask for an additional $15 million in general education appropriations for the 2023 budget year – bringing the state’s total regents higher-ed allocation to $501 million – the House has suggested keeping gen-ed funding flat while putting $12 million into a new “Iowa Workforce Grant and Incentive Program.”
Facing unsettling headwinds like sliding enrollment, surging costs, and shrinking demand for “general education” courses, Iowa State University’s second-largest college is reporting a current deficit of $11.4 million and expectations that shortfall will swell to $15 million in three years.
The University of Iowa will continue to make an annual allocation of $750,000 to Hancher Auditorium’s facilities and maintenance costs, even though it is in the process of weaning the venue off a $1.5 million contribution by 2024 of general education funding used for salaries and benefits.
Iowa’s public universities in recent years have drifted farther from a target of one supervisor per 15 employees to a narrower ratio of one supervisor per nine or 10 subordinates, according to a new Board of Regents report.
The Iowa House went two different directions Monday as it extended more local control to cities to deal with public nuisances, but took away local control from public and private schools, day care centers and colleges by prohibiting them from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations.
The pandemic depleted resources across Iowa’s public university residence hall systems in the last budget year – to the tune of millions – and even though the campuses are back to mostly in-person classes and traditional operations, fallout for the dorms and dining halls continues.
The university held Wilson’s official installation ceremony on its 175th anniversary — kicking off a series of celebrations in the coming days commemorating UI’s many milestones, including groundbreaking appointments of women to leadership roles.
Milt Dakovich, one of Iowa’s nine regents – and the longest serving active board member – has died, Board of Regents President Michael Richards announced Friday afternoon.
Not a formal investigation, but the attorney general will look at why the price of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer has increased 315 percent since January 2021, and other types of fertilizer have increased between 171 percent and 290 percent, according to the federal agriculture department.
A quarter of students across Iowa’s public universities who responded to a free-speech survey in the fall disagreed with the notion their respective campuses provide an “environment for free and open expression of ideas, opinions, and beliefs.”
The percent of students attending Iowa’s public universities who graduate in four years is rising, as is the percent who graduate in six years. At the same time, the collective rate of freshman who returned in fall 2020 for a second year dropped — a likely result of the pandemic, officials report.
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