Nearly 2,500 students from the University of Iowa will lose their scholarship this coming school year. The school announced it in a letter from the university's president because of a lack of state funding.
University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld expressed his sadness and disappointment in a letter that announced the news. He assured the students who are recipients of various scholarships that the withdrawal is not a reflection of their academic performance. Rather, the loss of scholarship grants is the result of the lack of state funding.
The Iowa Legislature has cut its funding to the university by $8 million because of a shortfall in state revenues. These sizable cut in funding led the University of Iowa officials to take a careful look at every expenditure the institution is making. They also added that cutting the scholarship will save the university more than $4 million.
Five of the scholarship programs that will be affected are Iowa Heritage, Iowa Heritage Transfer, Iowa Heritage Presidents, Iowa CC 2+2, and CC Academic Scholarship.
Harreld said he talked with state officials and told them that the funding cut will affect the university's budget in the coming years. He reasoned out, however, that if the state allows the university to raise its tuition, then it will be able to provide funding for its resident students.
The specifics for the proposed tuition raise includes a $715 tuition increase for non-resident graduate students while resident undergraduates will have a $171 increase for the year 2018. Further down 2019 - 2020, the proposed increase is $784 for resident undergraduates and $1,119 for non-residents.
The University of Iowa is not the only academic institution affected by the funding cut. The Iowa State University also had an $8-million cut from its funding while the University of Northern Iowa had a $2-million cut from its base funding.
