The
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Iowan Recruitment Increases Iowa universities change recruitment tactics toward instate students as enrollment becomes more competitive. By Wynne Miller Due to new laws regarding state funding, and the near completion of reconstruction from the flood of 2008, The University of Iowa is making a concerted effort to recruit more instate students to attend their school. “As population demographics change, there are fewer 18 year olds in the Midwest, and every college is trying to recruit them,” Joe Brennan, Vice President of Strategic Communications at the University of Iowa, said. The Board of Regents has proposed a new way of allocating state taxpayer dollars to the three public universities in Iowa for the first time in 70 years. As of 2016, 60 percent of state funding will be based on the enrollment of instate students. “This model bases a large share of state funding on enrollment of Iowa residents,” Brennan said. Projections from the Board of Regents indicate that, with the proposal, Iowa could lose about $13 million per year for the next few years. “If that happens, we will find ways to reduce our spending without compromising the quality of our education,” Brennan said. “We are looking at several projects to help us become more efficient in our administrative processes.” The new policy puts the University at risk of losing state funding, but changes the University is making are also there to maintain an ideal school environment. “It’s more about sustaining the right enrollment for a healthy university and a great student experience,” Eric Page, Director of Recruitment and Communications at the Office of Admissions, said. The University’s goal is to not only recruit Iowa residents to their school, but to have a well-rounded student population. “We aren’t just changing the way we recruit Iowa residents,” Page said. “We are recruiting students who will be successful at the University of Iowa, and building a strong mix of resident and nonresident enrollment to secure a strong future for the University.”
Students at City High have also expressed an importance in student diversity. “I like people who are diverse; people who are from different walks of life and backgrounds,” Miguel Garcia ‘15 said. The University has full-time recruiters stationed in Chicago, California, and Texas. They’re also offering a new legacy scholarship, visiting every high school in the state, improving campus tours, and spending about $2 million this year on paid advertising. “We identify prospective students early in their high school careers, and we reach out to them in multiple ways,” Brennan said. “Our recruiters visit high schools and attend college fairs throughout Iowa and around the Midwest.” As the school considers what sort of students it look at, students also consider what they would like in a school. “Affordability and the strength of the departments I’m interested in are the most important factors [in choosing a college],” Garcia said. This year, during a U of I board meeting, the Board of Regents criticized the University’s efforts on recruiting students after the new proposal. “The criticism from the Regents was really unfounded and unfair,” Page said. “It was based on hearsay and subjective observations that really weren’t accurate. So, we took them with a grain of salt.” After the Board of Regents pushed the University to increase the student population, the school hosted an Open House, You@Uiowa, where about 500 faculty and staff members volunteered to greet students, give tours, and speak about their areas of interest. “More than 3,000 prospective students and their families visited campus on a sunny, perfect Saturday in late October,” Brennan said. The school is holding the events to improve and obtain a higher level of university environment. “This whole episode this past year has helped us take a step back and evaluate how we go about our work, and look for areas to improve,” Page said. “I believe we have done that.”
Kirkwood Brings Regional Centers to Johnson County Unique college partnership expands educational opportunities for high school students in the ICCSD. By Claire Noack & Olivia Parrott Opening in the fall of 2015, the Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa will greatly expand opportunities for next year’s upperclassmen to experience the rigor of college in high school. While Kirkwood has offered classes in the professional development area to high school students for years, the new center will nearly double the number of courses available to City High students, and will provide better facilities. “The biggest advantage is classes that are not traditionally offered in high schools,” Assistant Principal
Scott Jespersen said. “The centers expose you to careers you didn’t know about or weren’t interested in before.” The Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa, a brand new facility, will be filled with advanced equipment for various professional development courses, such as Advanced Manufacturing, Automotive Technology, and Emergency Medical Services. “It’s just beautiful,” City High guidance counselor Linda Hoel said. “We’ve seen the equipment at another center that they’re going to be putting in. The equipment is going to be in there for technology, and it’s going to be state-of-the-art.” In addition, new classes will be added to the program of studies. A liberal arts academy, an architec-
ture, construction, and engineering academy, and a pharmacy technician academy will be among the new courses offered. Kirkwood began building the regional centers when school districts approached the college with concerns about programs they were unable to offer students with their current facilities. Kirkwood built its first center in Jones County. The Center received such a strong positive reaction, a bond issue was passed several years ago to expand Kirkwood Regional Centers into a greater number of counties. In the years since the opening of the Jones County Center, Regional Centers have been built in Linn and Washington Counties. The Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of
Iowa will open next fall. While several more academicbased classes have been offered this school year at TREK, a center stationed at the previous Roosevelt Elementary School, historically, Kirkwood has offered alternative classes for high school students in the area such as computer tech or other professional development courses. However, this year many classes simply could not be offered. “Any of these other [classes]-the manufacturing, the auto for examplewe just aren’t offering this year because we don’t have the facilities,” Hoel said. “We’ve been very limited in what we can offer to students. The facilities at TREK are substandard. It’s just not a good deal, but it’s the best we could do for this year.”
Students from the Iowa City Community School District, as well as from Regina, Tipton, West Branch, Clear Creek Amana, and Solon will have access to the new Center, which will be located in the University of Iowa Research Park in Coralville. “It is a trek for students,” Jespersen said. “Mr. Bacon and I have been a little concerned about that, because we want students to be able to have full access.” If a student doesn’t already have access to transportation, it will be provided to and from the Center by the school district via bus, which will leave City High at around 6:45 am. continued on A8