Iowa Regents Vote to Shift Millions From U. of Iowa to 2 Other Universities

[Updated (6/4/2014, 11:01 p.m.) with additional details.]

Iowa’s Board of Regents on Wednesday adopted a controversial plan that calls for millions of dollars to be redistributed from the University of Iowa to the state’s other two public universities, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Associated Press.

Under the plan, which would go into effect next year if approved by the state legislature, 60 percent of the roughly $500-million allocated to higher education would be awarded to each university on the basis of the number of in-state students it enrolls. The rest of the money would be divided according to specified performance measures, like the number of degrees awarded.

Some faculty members at the University of Iowa came out against the plan, criticizing it as a “one size fits all” approach with the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University. In a letter, they asked the board to postpone its decision, reports The Gazette, in Cedar Rapids.

The regents voted, 8 to 1, to adopt the plan, which would be phased in over three years. It stipulates that no more than $13-million could be redistributed from the University of Iowa to the other two institutions in any one year.