The Iowa Board of Regents voted to approve Iowa State University’s request for an additional $12 million for the institution’s coming fiscal year on Thursday.

In addition to the approved request, the board approved an amendment proposed by Regent Abby Crow, an undergraduate student who attends the University of Iowa, which added $1 million to the board office for student mental health, inspired by a breakfast with student leaders.

“I’d just like to make a comment that I’m very supportive of that,” Regent Sherry Bates said. “We’ve heard from our student leaders and all the universities, how mental health issues and concerns have increased the past years.”

In a continuation of Wednesday’s meeting, the board also approved:

• Revisions for the Therkildsen Industrial Engineering Building project
• Revisions for the Union Drive Community Center-Union Drive Marketplace renovation project
• Two lease amendments with Sprint/T-Mobile and an easement agreement with Alliant Energy

Wintersteen’s Report

Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen presented before the board, highlighting some of Iowa State’s accomplishments. She said when inflation is accounted for, it is almost as if the university has seen a 25% decrease in funding due to a dollar’s purchasing power.

“You can see our level of general state appropriations has been flat over the past decade,” Wintersteen said. “These are nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation, and you can see that although we have received some increases, we’ve also suffered cuts, putting us at a net increase of $0 since 2014.”

The motive behind Iowa State’s requested $12 million increase for the 2024 fiscal year is to ensure that Iowa State remains a premier school of science and technology programs, Wintersteen said.

“These additional resources will be invested in the topics you see up on the slide: first-generation students, the Future Ready Workforce, rural resiliency and vitality by a focus on mental health and economic development opportunities, rare earth independence and innovative solutions in digital agriculture, manufacturing and biosciences,” Wintersteen said.

Wintersteen presented a dollar-by-dollar breakdown of the granted $12 million, which listed: $2 million to be invested in first-generation undergraduate students from Iowa; $4 million to be invested in preparing students for Iowa’s future-ready workforce, an initiative started by Gov. Kim Reynolds which aims to have 70% of Iowans in the workforce to have education or training beyond high school by 2025.

Another $1 million to be invested in rural resiliency and vitality, which focus on access to mental health resources as well as economic development, and $3 million will go to support America’s rare earth independence — an effort to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign sources for rare metals and materials commonly found in electronics. The final $2 million will go to foster innovation in digital agriculture, manufacturing and biosciences.

“We believe our request for $12 million to increase our general appropriation is a critical investment that is needed for the state, not just Iowa State University,” Wintersteen said. “It will ensure that we can continue to do the good work that we do across our three missions, and how we support Iowa as a whole.”

Wintersteen said enrollment is up 6.3% compared to last year and up 13% in respect to the last two years.

Regarding residency, non-resident enrollment is up 13% from last year, and international enrollment is up 35%, with new transfer student enrollment increasing by 2%. Wintersteen said the increase in enrollment is what led the administration to reopen Wallace and Linden Halls.

Wintersteen reported that Iowa State’s 4-year graduation rate has climbed over 56%, 15 points over the national average.

“While our new student enrollment is up, one of the biggest factors for the decline in overall enrollment over the last few years is our very large graduating classes,” Wintersteen said. “We’re graduating students at record numbers, and it’s a good problem to have.”