Iowa City Press-Citizen
Speaking in June about tuition hikes, Iowa university students called upon their state lawmakers to look in the mirror.
"Many of us are familiar with recent trends in state funding to colleges that have caused the cost of higher education to be placed on students in a way that makes it unaffordable and inaccessible," Regan Smock, undergraduate student body president of the University of Iowa, told the regents in June.
It's far more complicated than that, however.
State lawmakers have long been split across the aisle on just how much funding should go to public universities. And as costs of higher education have risen nationwide, and appropriations have fallen or stagnated, students are increasingly looking for answers about the money required for a degree.