I love Iowa. After growing up in Ottumwa and graduating from Indianola’s Simpson College, I worked in South Dakota at the start of my career. I enjoyed my years in the Mount Rushmore State, but its higher education system pales in comparison with Iowa’s, and the same is true of other surrounding states. So I’m grateful to have spent the last 18 years in Iowa’s higher education system.
Iowa is the envy of other states when it comes to our full complement of higher education options: three top-notch regents institutions, 15 excellent community colleges, and 26 nonprofit, private colleges and universities that each contribute to the economy, culture and quality of life in the communities they call home. Iowans are blessed to have access to each of these options, and we desperately need all three to continue flourishing.
And yet, Iowa’s House of Representatives is poised to advance a bill that would likely lead to the closure of some of Iowa’s private colleges. If House Study Bill 533 becomes law, Iowa taxpayers will be on the hook for $20 million (for starters) to enable Iowa’s community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees, something the state’s three public universities and 26 private colleges already do exceedingly well.
The argument is not valid
The proposal’s key argument is that there are higher education “deserts” in Iowa. That’s just not true. Through Iowa’s public and private four-year colleges, all of Iowa is covered for in-person and online, undergraduate and graduate education. Moreover, Iowa already has a statewide transfer guarantee that enables students from all 15 community colleges to seamlessly complete a bachelor’s degree at Iowa, Iowa State, UNI, or nearly any Iowa private college. Northwestern College, where I am president, is a proud participant in this program.
Rationale for the proposal’s key argument is embarrassingly weak. The report submitted to the House higher education subcommittee contains sparse anecdotal data with no concrete research or analysis to back its claims. No degree start-up costs or economic impacts to Iowa private colleges or their communities are identified. Alarmingly, despite this inadequate data and little meaningful input from the private colleges that have been providing four-year degrees (at zero taxpayer cost) for more than 170 years, the bill is moving recklessly forward.
At the same time, higher education faces a well-documented “enrollment cliff.” Due to declining birth rates during the 2008 recession, the number of high school graduates nationwide will decrease by 15% in the next decade. This is precisely the wrong moment to spend taxpayer dollars enabling community colleges to duplicate degrees already offered by Iowa’s four-year institutions.
“Isn’t competition good?”
Competition is good, if the terms are fair. Despite supporters’ generous investment in private colleges, our institutions will not be able to compete with a glut of state-funded bachelor’s degrees if community colleges begin offering them too. More of Iowa’s private colleges will experience decline and closure, like Iowa Wesleyan University did in 2023.
A solution without a problem
We need our community colleges to continue doing what only they can do! They are critical producers of the diverse workforce we need in Iowa. Many employers already can’t find enough welders, powerline workers, and other tradespeople to hire. Iowa already has three public universities and 26 private, nonprofit colleges that are superbly educating students who want bachelor’s and graduate degrees.
Iowans like a good deal. We already have a great deal with our outstanding system of higher education. Let’s not waste taxpayer dollars attempting to fix a problem that simply doesn’t exist.
Greg Christy is president of Northwestern College in Orange City.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa higher education system is not broken | Opinion
Reporting by Greg Christy, Guest columnist / Des Moines Register
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