The leaders of the three state-supported universities told legislators again yesterday they need more money. The presidents of Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa met with the House and Senate budget committees to talk about their needs. U-of-I President Mary Sue Coleman says they faced a 10-million dollar shortfall last year and need more money to compete in the “national arena.” I-S-U interim President Richard Seagrave says they’ve hit maximum capacity enrollment, and recruiting new faculty is tough. He says it’s a challenge to hire new faculty faster than people take their old faculty away.Seagrave says if the state doesn’t help the universities keep pace, education will suffer.U-N-I President Robert Koob says they could really use some new faculty to meet a growth in enrollment.Koob says the universities have been able to maintain “high end” education on “low end” investment.”Governor Vilsack’s budget calls for full funding of university salaries, but no one knows how much that will be until union negotiations are complete.
