As university budgets continue to swell, some members of the Iowa Board of Regents are concerned about a lack of scrutiny into the dollars and what is being done to save them, especially with current uncertainty and future changes to funding streams. According to a report by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Barker said he felt there wasn’t enough information provided on risks with certain areas of the budget and contingency plans in case dollars dry up for projects or programs. Despite a past directive from board president Sherry Bates to universities to renew efforts in finding areas where greater efficiency can be attained, Barker said he saw little evidence of it in the budget documents.

General education budgets at Iowa’s public universities are set to grow once again in fiscal year 2026, according to budget reports, mainly due to increases in tuition revenue from both rate hikes and higher expected enrollment. The total budget for the whole regents system sits at $8.4 billion for the fiscal year. Hensley said Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke with her about the university budgets and said she “was not happy about” the fact that they had a higher percentage increase than the 2% “state approved” increase.

(From left) Regents David Barker and Christine Hensley attend an Iowa Board of Regents meeting Feb. 27, 2025. The board voted at its July 30 meeting to approve fiscal year 2026 budgets. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

UNI is the only university to report decreased revenue from tuition for the fiscal year, but indirect cost recoveries and other income still have the overall budget rising by $400,000 to $174.4 million. The UI reported a projected tuition revenue increase of more than $51 million, offset by a reduction of $3.2 million from reductions in federal funding and indirect cost recoveries, bringing its general education funding to $871.2 million.

ISU’s fiscal year 2026 general education budget is projected to total nearly $767 million, with tuition revenue coming in at $44.1 million and revenue from indirect cost recoveries dropping by around $2.7 million due to “federal grant and recovery rate uncertainties.”

One area Barker said did go into adequate detail about the future and the problems it poses was ISU’s athletic department budget. In the budget proposal, the university stated it expects to see around $30 million in “recurring annual financial repercussions” starting this year and continuing in years to come. The university foundation provided a one-time allocation of funds to the department to fill gaps this year, but the document stated this will not be viable in the future.

The board’s investment finance committee meet within the next month to take another look at the budgets and come up with recommendations for how the process could change.