January 25, 2018
While the Board understands the state’s current fiscal situation, we are hopeful that the General Assembly and Governor will continue to work with the Board and public universities to significantly lessen these proposed reductions.
As the second semester is already underway, these severe cuts for FY2018 would cause disruptions on our campuses. We will work to minimize the impact on students.
The Board continues to support and will advocate for its appropriation request for FY2019, which includes $12 million in resident undergraduate financial aid. The state of Iowa ranks last in the nation in need-based financial aid to public university students.
As the state of Iowa is focusing on high-demand jobs, degree attainment, and the biosciences economy, cutting the public universities to this degree goes in the opposite direction of achieving these goals. The public universities are key drivers in all three of these areas and are critical to the future economic success of our state.
Somebody please tell us citizens why education, hospitalization, and medication costs rise multiple times that of the annual published inflation rate?