College presidents say there’s little fat left to cut

Six Iowa college presidents say the state’s higher education system is about as lean as it can be. University of Iowa president Mary Sue Coleman says
it’s ludicrous to think there’s much more fat in the university budgets. For example, the University of Iowa has fewer administrators than another other Big Ten university. She says when you have too few people, and you ask them to give up too much, they’ll just give up.
An audit of Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I will be released Wednesday, and U-N-I president Robert Koob says the recommendations focus on the way the universities buy things. He says they’ll look at whether or not the purchasing contracts might be more effective if all three buy things together. He says there are some complications because Iowa is already involved in purchase agreements with the Big Ten.
Koob met with the experts hired to review the university’s accounts. He says the consulting firm asked for some help because they couldn’t find anything that was wrong.
On Thursday, the state Board of Regents will consider an 18-and-a-half percent increase in tuition for students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I. Koob says increasing tuition is better than capping enrollment.
Koob says raising tuition will not make it impossible for kids to go to school, but he says establishing enrollment limits would shut the door on some kids. Six of the state’s university presidents met with the media last night in Cedar Rapids to discuss higher education and the Iowa economy.