Iowa among states that did not raise tuition last year despite cuts

Iowa is among only a dozen states that did not increase tuition in the last year at its public universities to make up for deep cuts in state education funding, according to a new report.

But average tuition at public colleges and universities has increased in every state, including Iowa, since the 2008 budget year, when the country dove into recession, according to the new report on education funding released this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Average tuition at Iowa's public universities is 12.2 percent above 2008 levels, which ranks among the lowest increases in the nation, according to the report. Tuition at public colleges and universities in Arizona, for example, is 80.6 percent above pre-recession levels.

Those increases come in response to cuts in state funding, the research shows. Every state legislature but two - Alaska and North Dakota - is spending less per student than before the 2007-08 school year.

The average state is spending $2,026 - or 23 percent - less per student than before the recession, according to the report. Iowa is spending $2,031 - or 23.8 percent - less per student than in the 2008 budget year.

In the past year, most states have started to restore funding for public higher education, including Iowa, where state support per student is 5.6 percent above the last school year, according to the report.

That boost in support, in part, allowed the Board of Regents to freeze in-state undergraduate tuition at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa last year and again this year.

But, according to the national study, the recent increases in state support have not made up for the deeper cuts over time. And, with higher education funding still behind pre-recession levels in most states, colleges and universities have done more than just increase tuition. They have cut faculty positions, eliminated courses, closed campuses, shuttered labs and buildings and reduced services - such as library hours. That has diminished access to and quality of higher education options in the country.

Michael Mitchell, policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of its new report, said the cuts in state funding for higher education are the result of more than the nation's flagging economy.

'It's also poor policy choices,” Mitchell said. 'I can't stress enough how much of this is a policy choice.”

Legislators need to pursue a more balanced approach to cost-cutting, he said, or the United States will fall behind its international competitors.

'Our future economic growth is tied to having more students go to college,” Mitchell said.

By 2020, he said, 65 percent of the nation's jobs will require some form of college education, and the country will be short workers at our current rate of education.

'To ensure a strong and fully working economy, more accessible higher education has to be available,” he said.

The study's findings reinforce the recent message from Iowa's Board of Regents Office that higher education, here and nationally, 'is facing severe economic constraints that require our universities to transform their organizations.”

'We cannot state it more clearly,” according to regent President Bruce Rastetter and board member Larry McKibben. 'The status quo is unsustainable and therefore unacceptable if we are to maintain our high standards of academic excellence.”

The board earlier this year launched a widespread efficiency review of its three public universities in hopes of finding places and ways to cut and save on each campus. Deloitte Consulting LLP was hired at an initial cost of $2.5 million to drive the process, and now - in the review's seventh week - the firm is planning to make follow-up visits to all three campuses, regent officials announced this week.

The follow-up visits - ISU and UNI next week and the UI the following week - will include meetings with the university presidents and other campus officials. Consultants also will set up initial meetings with campus 'sounding boards” that will include faculty, staff, students and union representatives.

In the review's initial phase, Deloitte is developing a list of potential cost-saving and efficiency opportunities that they will investigate further in the second phase. The list of 'opportunity areas” will be made public in about three weeks, according to regent officials.

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