Sept. 21, 2017
Statement by Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames, Ranking Member of the Senate Education Committee
“Reynolds apparently wants to forget about the nearly 250,000 students who attend Iowa’s colleges and universities, but they really took it on the chin from her budget. SF 130 resulted in $4.75 million being cut from the community colleges, $9.24 million cut from the University of Iowa, $8.99 million from Iowa State, and $2.52 million from UNI. Private college students ducked any cut for FY2017, but they lost $2.8 million from their Iowa Tuition Grant scholarship fund for this school year.
“As a direct result of Reynolds’ education cuts, Regents university students this fall got a ‘welcome back’ surprise of a steep tuition hike. At ISU, the increase was two and a half times what students had initially been told.
“Bad enough that Reynolds would levy a ‘tuition tax increase’ on students and their families, but then to fib about it and pretend it didn’t happen is just dishonest. Iowans deserve better.”
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