University presidents pitch new funding model

DES MOINES - If lawmakers don't support a Board of Regents proposal to change the way it funds the state's public universities, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa will struggle, presidents of the two institutions said Thursday.

'We need some help,” ISU President Steven Leath told members of the House-Senate education budget subcommittee. 'We can't take 20,000 Iowa kids without help from the Legislature.”

During his presentation on why lawmakers should approve the regents' new funding metrics, which tie a majority of state appropriations to in-state enrollment, Leath called Iowa a 'Cyclone state” and referred to a graphic indicating most students in 74 of the 99 counties attend ISU.

Iowa State has 20,260 resident students, he said, more than the other institutions. Under the current funding model University of Iowa gets more than $14,400 in state support per Iowa student, ISU gets more than $9,100 and UNI gets more than $8,700.

'We don't think it necessarily has to be equal, but it has to be equitable,” Leath said. 'This is getting to be increasingly difficult for us.”

Based on current enrollment figures, the new funding model would shift millions away from UI to ISU and UNI - starting with $12.9 million in the next budget year. Regents have asked lawmakers to provide both a 1.75 percent inflationary increase, along with $12.9 million to hold UI harmless until it has a chance to respond to the new funding metrics.

UI officials have rolled out big plans to do just that, ramping up campus events, high school visits and marketing campaigns to attract in-state students. All three university presidents supported the regents' funding request, which some lawmakers and members of the private and community college system have criticized.

Lawmakers have said increasing competition among Iowa's higher education entities could harm the institutions and provide a disincentive to recruit out-of-state students, who bolster the economy. Some have called for further study of higher education funding in Iowa - keeping the traditional model in place until a revised proposal emerges.

But Leath said waiting could be detrimental. He told The Gazette that without additional resources, ISU's quality of education could drop. Class sizes could grow. Faculty could leave or choose not to come. Programming, research and innovation could stall.

'How long are we going to disadvantage these kids?” Leath asked lawmakers. 'How long is another study going to take? I don't think it's fair to students from Iowa to wait any longer. We need an equitable solution, and we need to find it right away.”

Leath proposed many of the metrics used in the regents funding proposal - including tying 60 percent to resident enrollment - and he said Thursday the 'funding model is really good.

UNI President William Ruud also asked for support of the new model and addressed concerns around competition using a chart showing Iowa's public universities attracted just 22 percent of the state's high school graduates in fall 2014.

'There is plenty of room for us to educate more Iowans,” he said.

But, based on loud complaints out of private and community colleges, Rep. Rob Taylor, R-West Des Moines, asked the presidents whether they're concerned about damaging relations with those institutions.

Leath, Ruud and regents President Bruce Rastetter said no.

UI President Sally Mason, however, said she thinks private and community college partnerships should be a 'hallmark going forward” and the focus should be on 'outputs” like graduation-related metrics.

'How do we help each other improve on the outputs?” she asked.

Tuition concerns

In addition to support for its new funding metrics, the Board of Regents is asking for more dollars to allow for an unprecedented third-straight freeze of resident undergraduate tuition. ISU and UNI administrators have expressed reservations about the freeze, and ISU and UNI students and faculty also have shared concerns.

Emails obtained by The Gazette show debate among ISU faculty around how a tuition freeze could impact the school's growing student body - even if the new funding metrics earn legislative support.

ISU associate professor Max Guyll wrote to colleagues in December questioning the board's reasoning behind a third freeze.

'This is puzzling given the record enrollment of recent years, which requires more faculty,” Guyll said. 'The continued tuition freeze has cost the universities millions. When might the Board of Regents support a modest tuition hike to bring more money into the university, which could be used to bring faculty salaries closer to parity?”

ISU associate professor of architecture Kimberly Elman Zarecor shared in emails her questions into why administrators didn't push harder for a tuition increase. She was told, according to the emails, that 'university presidents did not challenge the tuition freeze for the 3rd year in a row because the big ‘prize' is performance-based funding.”

ISU professor of Faculty Senate President Kevin Schalinske replied that 'is accurate.”

'To fight the tuition freeze may jeopardize the (performance-based funding),” Schalinske said in a Dec. 4 email.

An ISU Faculty Senate document circulated in December listing questions for the provost, included one around performance-based funding, the proposed tuition freeze, and the need for more money to keep up with enrollment growth.

'President Leath has persuaded the regents that the ‘state funding should follow resident students,'” according to the document, which goes on to say, 'several departments are having trouble fulfilling their teaching mission because students' tuition dollars, let alone state funds, are not going to the department that teach the classes.”

Zarecor on Dec. 4 proposed designating a portion of any new state appropriations toward 'replacing this tuition money, at least until we can get tuition unfrozen.”

Schalinske replied saying 'the president has assured me that faculty input will be part of the decision process in how (performance based funding) money is spent - and that could include supporting the colleges with respect to tuition loss,” according to the emails.

ISU President Leath on Thursday told The Gazette losing the about $2.5 million in revenue that would have come from a tuition increase is 'a very real concern.” For that reason, he said, much of new funding realized through the regents' new metrics would go toward academic programming in the form of faculty support and educational resources.

Gov. Terry Branstad, in his budget proposal, suggested funding the universities using the old model, giving each institution a 1.75 percent increase based on the previous year's funding. He did propose providing $4 million for performance-based funding, but that's nearly $9 million less than what the Board of Regents has requested.

At the end of Thursday's hearing, Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, thanked the presidents' for their presentations and said lawmakers will review the requests. But, he said, the Legislature has a 'tight budget” and it could 'fall short” of what they're asking.