Regents’ funding change causing ripples among Iowa colleges

JOHNSTON - A performance-based funding plan that would reward state universities for recruiting in-state students has injected instability into a higher education marketplace that is having ripple effects among regent, private and community college components, representatives from Iowa independent colleges said Friday.

Gary Steinke, executive director of the Iowa Private Independent College Association, said changes being pushed by the state Board of Regents has touched off a 'sector war” in a previously steady market that is fueling hard feelings among and between state two-year and four-year schools and private colleges that could have been avoided had there been more opportunity for collaboration.

Mark Putnam, president of Pella-based Central College, said Iowa higher education institutions operated in a balanced 'ecosystem” that has been 'artificially restructured” by policy changes. The changes, brought on by a disincentive for the University of Iowa to recruit outside of the state, are driving discounted tuition and spending for marketing and advertising.

Putnam, Grand View University President Kent Henning and University of Dubuque President Jeffrey Bullock discussed concerns over the new regents' funding model and the impact it could have on private colleges, student recruitment, student debt and rising tuition costs during Friday's taping of Iowa Public Television's 'Iowa Press” show.

Henning said colleges are entering the financial aid season looking ahead to the next school year with reports of 'very generous” aid packages, 'almost free rides” being offered as a way to 'grab more students” - an environment that appeared to spawn the hasty decision for the University of Iowa to merge with the American Institute of Business, he noted.

'There's behavior that's driven by an approach that says we're going to grab all that we can,” said Putnam, who noted that he was not concerned if the University of Iowa draws more in-state students because private colleges import a lot of students from other states - many of whom stay - that has an economic benefit and helps address the state's shortage of skilled workers.

But he said that likely would be of concern to the University of Northern Iowa, which relies heavily on Iowa high school seniors, and result in recruiting efforts to attract students who might be better suited at a community college.

Steinke, who previously served as the regents' executive secretary, said the performance-based model has been tried in other states but generally has been abandoned because it doesn't work.