The Board of Regents has asked for a study of how athletics are funded at Iowa’s three public universities after hearing complaints from people in the state.

The study will look at the possibility of putting a cap on the amount universities spend on athletics, Regent Robert Downer of Des Moines said.

One question to be examined in the study, which is due back to the Board of Regents one year from now, is how much money universities allocate to athletics, Downer said.

“We need to develop parameters around what the university budget should look like,” he said.

The general fund is tax revenue that is given to the regent institutions from the Iowa Legislature that isn’t specially earmarked for a specific purpose.

Currently, the largest program, the University of Iowa, receives the smallest amount of money from the general fund, he said.

According to the regents’ data, only 5.7 percent of Iowa’s $42 million athletics budget comes from the general fund.

Northern Iowa has the smallest program with a $4.3 million budget — but 54.8 percent of the budget comes from the general fund.

Iowa State has 11.3 percent of its total athletic budget of $28 million coming from the general fund.

“It would be awfully hard to develop any program that fits all the schools,” Downer said.

Since Iowa State and Iowa have strong support from alumni and fans, less of the total budget has to rely on state money, he said.

One of the main concerns is that public funds have been decreasing, which puts a strain on universities to properly fund all areas, Downer said.

“There’s no doubt it’s a question of priority today,” Regent David Neil of La Porte City said.

Neil said it was important to protect the core interest of the university, which is education.

All three universities have had to make concessions on how much each department is funded, he said, and athletics have already taken large hits.