Regents approve state university funding requests as efficiency work continues

The Iowa Board of Regents has entered into a new phase of revenue enhancement and cost efficiency work at state universities as the institutions ask for increased state government support to help with rising expenses in essential areas.

The board at its Thursday meeting approved fiscal year 2028 state appropriations requests from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — each asking for a $2 million increase in general education funding.

Kent Farver, chief business officer for the board, said during the meeting that the total funding request from the universities, including additional $2 million requests from the UI and ISU for special programming in rural health and artificial intelligence, represents a 1.6% increase from fiscal year 2027 appropriations.

“We’re asking for $2 million to be able to help offset some of the inflationary costs that we expect, and to be able to continue to innovate and create new programs to serve the needs of the state of Iowa,” UNI President Mark Nook said.

Both UI President Barbara Wilson and ISU President David Cook agreed with Nook’s comments, saying the main drivers behind the general education funding increases are to help with rising expenses due to inflation and to not have to place that burden on students through tuition or fee increases.

While UNI isn’t requesting any other increases to its state-supported funding streams, Cook said ISU is seeking $2 million for its AI-Ready Workforce and Innovation Initiative in order to place the university in its best position to lead the state in AI education, research and innovation.

In his travels around the state, Cook said, AI was one of the topics most brought up, with questions of its impact, appropriate education of young people, and how it’s changing both the job market and ISU. The Ames university is already diving into these topics through its Translational AI Center and other efforts, he said.

“This is a moment in time to get out to lead, to lean into something that I think is distinct for Iowa State, and where we have a great history in being excellent in these areas,” Cook said. “And so that’s what informed this ask, of really trying to build Iowa’s next generation economy, embracing the ethical use of AI, which is critical.”

Funding requests from the UI fall into three “buckets,” Wilson said, split between the $2 million ask for its general education funding, $2 million on a recurring basis for a rural physician pipeline to bolster healthcare in rural areas and a capital project request of $25.5 million to develop a nursing simulation and training center.

Wilson said the UI will match every dollar of state support for the training center with its own funds that are being put aside for this purpose and there will be support from donors as well. The new facilities would house simulation suites and debriefing areas for student training, she said, and the UI estimates it would expand enrollment by around 58 students annually.

“This is a really important investment, I think, in the healthcare and well-being of the state, in addition to the rural pipeline program I just mentioned,” Wilson said. “We’re very hopeful, and we’re as committed as we can be, and the matching dollars, I hope, underscores that.”

REAPS reaches second phase

As universities work to save money in their own budgets and seek support from the state, board members and staff involved with the board’s Revenue Enhancement and Productivity Study (REAPS) reported Wednesday that they are getting closer to forming practical recommendations for the board to discuss.

Board Chief Efficiency Officer Jacob Nicholson said Wednesday the REAPS initiative, launched in December 2025, is “progressing on time and on target” to bring forward “specific, actionable and validated recommendations not only on efficiency and productivity gains but also on revenue enhancement opportunities” to the board at its February 2027 meeting.

“Importantly, the board will not receive a list of theoretical possibilities,” Nicholson said. “The end product will be a practical roadmap that outlines implementation considerations, timelines, milestones, and performance measures … so that outcomes can be monitored and validated over time.”

Phase one of the initiative, which Nicholson said is now complete, included contracting with Huron Consulting Services to aid in the study, establishing guiding principles and solidified the study’s methodology and what to prioritize. During this period, the universities provided more than 70 datasets and reports for analysis and leadership completed 56 interviews.

Phase two — the longest and most intense of the three-phase initiative — focuses on that analysis, Nicholson said, as well as benchmarking against other universities and “rigorous validation of opportunities.”

Nine focus areas were identified by the REAPS committee for analysis, including alternative revenue; research, innovation and commercialization; institutional capabilities as a service; workforce, professional and lifelong learning; real estate optimization and development; service enhancement; facilities and space management; cost rationalization and procurement and spend efficiency.

“Over the coming months, Huron and the REAPS committee will conduct deeper evaluation within these areas, quantify potential benefits, validate findings with institutional leaders, and refine recommendations for consideration by the board,” Nicholson said.

Work in this phase is expected to last through the end of the year, with Nicholson set to provide another update in November.

United Faculty leader calls for further state support

Chris Martin, UNI faculty member and president of faculty union United Faculty, took to the microphone during public comment Wednesday to call out the “dismal” funding of public universities by the state.

UNI has been flat-funded five of the past six years, with the exception of fiscal year 2023, Martin said, and during that same period the “compound cost of living in the Midwest region” has increased by around 13.5% based on data from the Consumer Price Index.

“At the same time, some leaders in the Iowa Legislature believe that there are greater and greater efficiencies to be wrung out by continually flat funding the regents universities,” Martin said. “The problem with this view is that instead of efficiencies, we have experienced years of deficiencies.”

Where a decade ago UNI’s average faculty salaries sat in the middle of its peer universities, Martin said now the university is dead last, and fewer faculty members are receiving “competitive funding” in the form of professional development assignments.

Despite not keeping up with funding needs, Martin said the Iowa Legislature is exerting more control over daily university operations through “unfunded mandates” like the new rules for civic education requirements at state universities included in House File 2800.

“These are the people who are the center of the university, and if we don’t reduce the current trajectory of rock-bottom salaries for faculty, the lack of professional investment in faculty, and unfunded mandates, then we lose the very thing that makes UNI an outstanding community,” Martin said. “I would like to think that you don’t want that, and that the good people of Iowa who started investing in UNI 150 years ago don’t want that either.”