Approved July 31 by the state Board of Regents, Iowa State's general fund operating budget is $802.3 million for the fiscal year that began July 1. This is an increase of $34.7 million -- nearly 5% -- over a year ago. Incremental increases come from:
- Student tuition, $27.8 million
- General university state appropriation, $4.3 million
- Administrative costs recovery on externally funded research, $2.2 million
- Two special purpose state appropriations, $0.2 million
- New special purpose appropriation (Extension forestry), $0.15 million
Tuition dollars account for about 65% (an estimated $519.1 million) of the revenue in the general fund operating budget. State appropriations totaling $239.4 million is the other significant revenue source in the operating budget at just under 30%. Federal support for ISU Extension and Outreach (2%) and revenue from services and recovered costs on externally funded research (just over 3%) round out the revenue sources.
Associate vice president for financial planning and analysis Bonnie Whalen said leaders identified several priorities for the new revenue:
- Employee salaries and benefits, including annual increases, promotions and net new positions in all employee categories: faculty, merit, P&S, post-docs and graduate students.
- Student financial aid.
- Building repairs and equipment purchases.
Support for livestock, forests
Several special purpose units at Iowa State received a total of $350,000 in additional directed state appropriations this year. Two annual appropriations that support the state's livestock industry each received $100,000 more in operating support from the 2024 legislature. Iowa State's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has the largest caseload of any VDL in the country. The additional funds help keep testing affordable for Iowa farmers and provide a steadier income stream than test fees. State support for the VDL this year is $4.6 million.
And an additional $100,000 for Iowa State's livestock disease research program is seed money to leverage research funding from public and private sources and address top concerns in the state's livestock and poultry industries. State support for livestock research this year is $291,390.
A first-time directed state appropriation of $150,000 is for a regional forestry specialist position in ISU Extension and Outreach who will serve the northeast part of the state. With approximately 85% of Iowa's woodlands privately held, landowners and farmers play a crucial role in caring for this natural resource. But surveys indicate most of Iowa's woodland acres are passively managed with their owners unaware of the technical service, financial and educational resources available to them. The specialist will collaborate with university, state agency and organization partners to promote forest management, and provide technical assistance and education to private landowners and public woodland stewards through individual consultations, workshops and virtual programs. About 40% of the new funding is for supplies and services.
The bigger picture
The general fund budget is less than half of the university's overall budget of $1.7 billion this year. Other pieces of the overall budget come from auxiliary units that receive no state support (for example, athletics, residence, student health center, recreation services and campus utilities) and activities whose funding is restricted for a specific purpose (such as building projects, sponsored research, private gifts, student fees, fees for services and endowment income). Those budgets total $919.8 million.
