Should Iowa fund more public university scholarships to replace tuition set-aside?
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Several state legislators on Tuesday said they wonder if existing endowments at Iowa’s regent universities could help fund student scholarships in place of tuition set-aside dollars.
One of the lawmakers also suggested the state Board of Regents could return to the practice of using tuition dollars to fund scholarships for students, just at a lower rate than 20 percent of tuition money being redistributed. The regents voted to end that practice, called tuition set-aside, several months ago after criticism of the program last spring from some lawmakers and parents.
The regents have requested $39.5 million in state money to form a new scholarship fund for Iowa’s neediest students that would replace tuition set-aside. Gov. Terry Branstad recommended $5 million in state money for that new fund in his Fiscal Year 2014 budget proposal, well short of the regent request. The regents say they would lower tuition at a rate commensurate with the level of state support for the plan.
What do you think? Should the state provide more scholarship money to Iowa’s public universities, in lieu of the tuition set-aside that was eliminated?
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I believe our state should embrace this basic principle – No student with promising academic potential should be denied a quality 4 year college education due to a lack of financial support. If Michigan had not embraced that position in the 60s I probably would not have been able to go to college. For me, going to college made a world of difference.
I really don’t care if Iowa uses a tuition set aside program or something else. The only thing that matters is that college not be out of reach for any promising Iowa student.
Universities have well paid full time staff whose only job is to contact alumni for all sorts of funding. Maybe they should add 501c3 to their contact lists. There are many privately funded scholorships made available by philanthropist groups in various fields. What better endorsement can a student have than a college who has ongoing relationships with such groups?
Not to say states can’t be involved but it doesn’t always have to be the end all answer either.