Dear Chet Culver:

Here is a case for why you should distribute as much federal stimulus money into Iowa universities as possible to combat the budget deficits facing the institutions.

A budget shortfall of approximately 14.5 percent — or $41 million less than the 2009 fiscal year — is stalking the ISU administration as they scramble to figure out how to cut while simultaneously attempting to portray itself as a first-class science and technological institution.

President Geoffroy told a Daily reporter on Monday that Iowa State may have to lay off 200 to 300 employees if the university does not receive any federal stimulus money.

If we don’t get this money, non-tenured faculty and staff members are in jeopardy of losing their jobs.

Investing in education means giving students the best opportunities to learn. This is completed not by digitizing learning or adding online classes. The best education is achieved by attracting the best instructors who are most interested in teaching, research and scholarship. With fewer teachers, which would mean larger classes and fewer options for intimate learning, students are less likely to make the most of their college experience. Close relationships with faculty and staff are key to harboring curiosity and nurturing learning — meaning that Iowa State and the other public universities in Iowa would become less of a destination for specialized, small-setting learning.

If this weren’t reason enough, providing the proper funds for education means investing in a generation already plagued with high amounts of debt. ISU students are already topping charts for having some of the largest student debts in the country. If we don’t get the stimulus money, this could lead to an increase in tuition to help pay for the services modern college students require.

Education is a means by which Americans have traditionally moved from one economic status to another. Public universities are America’s ladders for upward mobility, allowing citizens to move up from single-parent households with low incomes into middle-class jobs. However, if we don’t receive enough money, the higher tuition might discourage even more students from applying to college, graduating and then spending money they earn in the first years of becoming employed. Historically, young people spend money readily because they are on their own for the first time, which could be our way to thank you for choosing to make college affordable and available to every Iowan.

Politicians always talk about investing in America’s future. Instead of just talking about it, you now have the opportunity to do something positive for Iowa’s youth.