U-I cutting Scholarships Due to Budget Cut, However UNI Leaving Positions Open

university-of-iowa

University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld told the Board of Regents Thursday his school will make up the eight-million-dollar cut in state funding by canceling some scholarships.

“In order to close this deficit we have decided to end some…non-merit, non-need, non-financial need-based scholarships. And we start sharing that news and we will continue it over the next few days,” Harreld says. Harreld says letters are going out to some 24-hundred students who would have been getting the scholarships.

“While this is not the happiest news, I am here to provide a commitment to Iowans and the Board of Regents. Moving forward the university will commit to investing each and every additional dollar received in general funding above and beyond our new base of 224 million towards scholarships for these resident students,” Harreld says. He says it is hoped they will be able to fund the scholarships in the future.

“Support obviously that we receive from the state is vital and is needed in order for us to move forward,” Harreld says. “I hope that this is as many have stated, in fact a temporary situation.” The Iowa Legislature approved an 18 million dollar cut in funding to the three state-supported schools last month as state revenues fell. Iowa State University’s president says they will cut deferred maintenance and leave some positions open to handle their eight-million-dollar cut.
U-N-I president, Mark Nook, says they will leave open some positions to deal with the cut.
“Anytime reductions have to happen midstream, especially this late in the stream, you have relatively limited possibilities for making those reductions. We will be holding a few select positions open…we will fill them eventually, but we are holding them a little while to get some of that revenue,” Nook says. He says the open positions won’t handle all of the cut.

He says they will also be reducing some of their travel and staff development and deferred maintenance will also help. U-N-I is facing a two-million-dollar cut.