UNI President says the budget cuts are too deep

The President of the University of Northern Iowa says without increased funding, the institution will have to shrink.President Robert Koob says if tuition or state funding doesn’t increase, the school will seriously consider reducing the size of the University. All three state universities were forced to take a six-percent cut in state funding this year. Koob says they can’t keep offering students what they need with the funding available. He says the people of Iowa deserve and expect a high quality education. Koob says they’d rather be smaller with high quality, than bigger with lower quality.Koob says the budget cut to UNI adds up to seven-point-one percent as the across the board six-percent state cut was coupled with a mandated increase in salaries. Koob says budget issues will be at the top when state schools lobby the legislature in January.He says they’ll also ask for money to fill positions that were frozen open to make up for the budget cuts. Koob made his comments Wednesday at the State Board of Regents meeting on the UNI campus in Cedar Falls.