Iowa Legislators are raising questions about the new “performance-based” formula for directing tax dollars to the three state-supported universities. The formula would shift more money to the University of Northern Iowa, where nearly 90 percent of students are Iowa residents, and the University of Iowa would get less money because its enrollment is nearly half Iowans and half out-of-staters. Representative Zach Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, says it seems like a “shell game” to him.

In the formula’s first year of implementation, the University of Iowa would get about 13 million dollars less and legislators are being asked to give the university that much extra money to fill the shortfall.

Iowa State University president Steven Leath says he “has not seen a better model” than the new formula the Regents propose.

Officials say three-hundred-thousand (300,000) hours of credits earned by Iowa community college students were transferred to the state universities this past year. And about one-third of the new students at Iowa State last fall were community college transfers.