Investments & Changes

Iowa State University’s allocation of resources, evaluation processes, and planning activities enhance the ability to respond to future challenges and opportunities. Several examples follow which highlight plans for resources that strengthen the quality of education.

Six significant academic initiatives evaluated by a faculty committee in a competitive process from a pool of 31 pre-proposals were established in August 2002 (Presidential Academic Initiatives Program). The projects were chosen for their potential to respond to and anticipate critical needs in Iowa and the country, and enhance Iowa State’s stature among peer land-grant schools. In addition to developing world-class research components, each of the initiatives will strengthen or create graduate academic programs, contribute to Iowa State’s technology transfer efforts, and support economic development in the state. The initiatives include a Bioeconomy Initiative, the Center for Integrated Animal Genomics, Human Computer Interaction, the Information Infrastructure Institute, the Institute for Combinatorial Discovery, and the Institute for Food Safety and Security.

The recent $14 million bonding resolution is the biggest boost to classroom and auditorium renovation in the history of the institution. This funding, spread over three fiscal years–2003, 2004, and 2005–supported the following projects:

• Replacement of the LeBaron Auditorium with a 330-seat facility featuring specially designed flexible seating in alternate rows to allow small group interaction within a large lecture setting

• Complete reconstruction of two physics rooms to meet multiple uses including demonstrations and small group interaction

• Numerous remodeling and improvement projects in about 140 existing classrooms where such things as technology installations/upgrades, seating replacement, lighting upgrades and general aesthetic enhancements will enhance student learning

The upgrades have allowed instructors to introduce multi-media learning techniques in spaces not previously configured for modern technology devices.

Iowa State offered its first Learning Communities in 1995; 19% of first-year students participated in one of 12 communities. In 1998, former President Martin Jischke dedicated $1.5 million to a three-year initiative to develop learning communities. Learning Communities become a permanent budget line item (at $650,000 per year) in 2001. The numbers of both learning communities and participants have dramatically and rapidly increased. In 2005, Iowa State had 57 active Learning Communities with 51% of entering first-year students participating.

The program has been highly successful.
Learning community students:

• Report greater satisfaction with the overall quality of instruction, overall quality of classmates, and overall experience at Iowa State

• Earn significantly higher first-term GPAs

• Have greater retention rates after one, two, and three years at Iowa State

• Have higher graduation rates after four, five, and six years

• Report greater satisfaction with support, encouragement, or advice from faculty, as well as more opportunities to interact closely with faculty, work collaboratively with other students, and develop or participate in study groups

Grants are also available to improve the quality of teaching at the University. Since 1996, Miller Faculty Fellowships of up to $25,000 each have been competitively available for faculty interested in making curricular or course improvements.

Financial Aid
The University continues to provide strong support for institutional financial aid. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, mandates a minimum of 15% of gross tuition revenue be reinvested in undergraduate student financial aid. Iowa State University has provided 20-22% for student aid for several years.

Institutional dollars are used to support programs such as the ISU Grant, gift aid for financially needy students; merit scholarships such as the Award for Competitive Excellence and Academic Recognition Award for both resident and non-resident students who present prescribed academic credentials upon admission; the George Washington Carver and Multicultural Vision Program awards to ethnic minority candidates who meet the criteria of the awards; and National Merit and National Achievement Scholarships.

As a result of these investments, the academic, demographic, and ethnic profile of the undergraduate student body has shifted. Analysis of the 2004 entering class indicates an average GPA of 3.49 and an average ACT score of 24.6. While students who receive need-based aid mirror these averages, those who are receiving merit-based aid have average grades points of 3.68-4.01 (depending on the type of scholarship received) and average ACT scores of 23.4-32.9. Total non-resident undergraduate enrollments have increased from 17.6% in fall 2000 to 19.6% in fall 2004 due to awards directed to non-resident students. Additionally, awards used to strengthen the diversity of the student population have contributed to an overall undergraduate minority population of 8.5%, having steadily increased from 7.0% in fall 2000.

The use of institutional dollars toward financial aid is continually evaluated. When tuition increases led to the devaluation of the non-resident Award for Competitive Excellence and Academic Recognition Award, a funding increase to the value of the awards was sought and approved. When the need for a more competitive award for resident students was identified, the President’s Award for Competitive Excellence was created and funded. A new award for transfer students was developed for 2005 and awards for international students and non-resident children of alumni will be new in 2006.

The Enrollment Services Unit continues to strive for increased efficiencies in recruiting and retaining students through other means, as well. Partnerships with academic units have led to earlier awarding of departmental scholarships. By creating packages that use all available dollars, financial aid packages can be more attractive and can help more students realize the dream of a college education.

In Fall 2005, the university community welcomed 5,421 new undergraduate students to campus, an increase of 42 from Fall 2004. This increase in new student enrollment is notable, as it comes at a time of increased competition for students, a rising sensitivity to price, and a smaller pool of eligible prospective freshmen from our primary recruitment markets. The Iowa Department of Education projected 1,200 fewer graduating high school seniors for 2005. The rising cost of attendance, competition for a smaller pool of graduating high school seniors in Iowa, and continuing challenges that new and returning international students face to study in the U.S continue to pose considerable challenges in working to meet the stated University enrollment objectives. Iowa State increased its market share of Iowa high school students enrolled and continues to enroll more Iowa high school graduates than any other university in the state. Additionally, the new freshman class is the most ethnically diverse since 1993, and the second most diverse on record.

While Iowa State can still claim that no other college or university enrolls more transfer students from Iowa’s community colleges each fall, Iowa State’s market share of all Iowa community college students transferring to an Iowa Regent Institution has fallen four years in a row, moving from 38.7% in Fall 2002 to 34.3% in Fall 2005. This trend must be reversed immediately in order to meet enrollment goals. Increased attention to transferability of coursework and the implementation of transfer-friendly policies and programs allowed both UNI and UIowa to enroll new transfer classes for Fall 2005 that are significantly larger than the previous year. As such, an area of focus for the Enrollment Services team will be working with the entire university community to create the most transfer-friendly environment possible. The Articulation Coordination Council, chaired by the Associate Provost for Academic Programs, is working to identify and implement a number of new initiatives, partnerships, and collaborative efforts that are expected to yield positive transfer results in the coming year.

Recent double-digit tuition increases at Iowa Regent Institutions have significantly widened the gap between the cost of attending a Regent institution and the cost of attending a community college. Community colleges from Iowa and from bordering states are actively recruiting statewide and promoting low cost of attendance. As shown in the table below, the gap between community college tuition and Regent tuition has increased significantly over the past ten years. This allows community colleges to compete more effectively for more types of students, even those who would not have considered a community college in the past.

Enhancing and increasing recruitment efforts as well as improving retention efforts are necessary in order to stabilize enrollment. Even with a larger new undergraduate class, overall undergraduate enrollment is 20,732, down 622 from Fall 2004. This is a result of a number of factors, including the graduation of large entering classes and smaller entering classes in recent years—in part, as a result of a demographic decline in the number of high school graduates in the Midwest. The recruitment of new undergraduates will continue to be fiercely competitive, particularly in the Midwest, where the number of high school students will continue to decline in every state contiguous to Iowa, except Illinois, over the next several years. With the cost of education continuing to rise, students and families are much more price sensitive. Iowa’s community colleges are becoming a more attractive first choice option for high school seniors. And colleges and universities in bordering states, including South Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, are offering significant financial incentives for students in Iowa and in our key recruiting states that make the annual cost of education to these students equal to, and in some instances less than, the annual cost of attending Iowa State.

While these are formidable challenges to recruiting new students, there are numerous reasons to be optimistic. As Iowa State University becomes relatively more expensive, we must clearly differentiate our institution from others on the basis of program quality and the experience only Iowa State can provide. Some of the exciting opportunities for enhanced recruitment that will be explored in the coming year include collaborations with alumni, Extension, and the Ames community. Transfer recruitment and relationship efforts will be expanded, as will pre-collegiate program efforts, in an effort to build early relationships with potential future Cyclones. Finally, a new marketing campaign should help energize the university’s recruitment efforts for Fall 2006 and future years.

In 2003, enrollment data and trends led to the reorganization of staffing structure within the Office of Admissions to create new senior leadership positions in freshman and transfer recruitment and admissions systems. Since then, positions have been created and modified to build up support in the systems and transfer areas.

A new Web process consolidating the acceptance, housing application, and housing contract processes and allows students offered admission to pay one fee, online, via AccessPlus was launched for the Summer/Fall 2004 recruitment cycle Once the fee is paid, students can immediately contract for housing online and/or sign up for additional information about joining a fraternity or sorority. Students and families still have a paper option to complete this process. For Fall 2005, the majority of our new enrolled freshmen and transfer students paid the deposit online.

New technologies improving the effectiveness and responsiveness of enrollment services units are consistently being adopted. Iowa State utilizes the latest technology to communicate marketing messages to prospective students—a Web portal, flash emails with reminders about upcoming deadlines, and electronic publications. Enrollment services provides prospective and current students with a wide array of online services; i.e., applications and required forms, status checks, e-awards, digital signatures, e-mail streams, reservations for visits/new student programs, and online payment. These services can be viewed at www.admissions.iastate.edu. A dditionally, the units are committed to using technology to make conducting student financial aid business as convenient as possible for prospective and current students.

The Office of Admissions is currently implementing imaging technology for archiving requirements and business processes, reengineering the admissions process and thereby improving effectiveness in the process.

The Office of Admissions is currently implementing DARS ( Degree Audit Records System) and the DARS transfer articulation piece, in conjunction with the Office of the Registrar.

Background
The Iowa State University Foundation is a private non-profit organization dedicated to securing and stewarding private gifts and grants that benefit Iowa State University. Each year, thousands of generous benefactors make gifts to show their support for Iowa State.

Fundraising priorities for Iowa State are established by the university based on its strategic plan. Each year, university leadership develops their list of fundraising needs and then provides those requests to the ISU Foundation. It is the role of the foundation to bring the interests of donors and the priorities of ISU together for meaningful engagements.

Gifts and Commitments
Donors have been very generous in their support for Iowa State University. More than $950 million in gifts and future commitments were secured in the 10-year period between 1996 and 2005. These gifts and commitments are used to support faculty, students, building and renovation projects, research, athletics and various programs.

While fundraising is a never-ending process that occurs each year, two special campaigns took place during this time period — Campaign Destiny and Investing in People which are highlighted below.

Campaign Destiny: To Become the Best (July 1995 to June 2000)
This was the largest fundraising initiative in Iowa State’s history and raised $458.6 million during its five-year duration. Outright and deferred gifts exceeded the original $300 million goal by more than 150 percent. Highlights included:

• Donors contributed almost $104 million to create 614 new undergraduate and graduate scholarship programs.

• More than 50 building projects vastly improved Iowa State’s teaching, learning and outreach environments.

• Benefactors helped fund 22 new faculty professorships and chairs.

• During the campaign, ISU’s endowment increased from $84 million to $350 million.

• An $80 million anonymous gift received in 1999 was not only the largest gift to any Iowa public institution, but also the largest to any U.S. college of agriculture.

Investing in People (October 2001 to November 2003)
This fundraising campaign was announced by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy at his installation on Oct. 6, 2001. This two-year initiative focused on supporting students and faculty. Campaign commitments totaled $51.5 million, exceeding the goal of $50 million. Highlights included:

• Donors designated $39.7 million for student support and graduate student fellowships. Funds for students were directed to 577 existing accounts and created 172 new student support accounts.

• Donors designated $11.8 million for faculty support through chairs, professorships and faculty fellowships. Funds will support 11 existing and six new chairs and professorships. Two new faculty fellowships were created.

Planning the Next Campaign
Early discussions regarding Iowa State’s next comprehensive fundraising campaign began in 2002 and detailed planning has been ongoing since 2004. In late 2004, a campaign priority setting process began to determine future needs. This process was participatory and had broad-based involvement from the entire ISU campus. During the first half of 2005, all projects were reviewed to determine their fit with the university’s new strategic plan. Throughout the year, campaign priorities were finalized by President Gregory Geoffroy.

A public launch date of the upcoming fundraising campaign has not yet been determined; and a dollar goal has yet to be finalized. A national volunteer campaign committee is in the process of being selected; as well as individual college committees.

Fundraising Trends
Many fundraising trends have emerged in the last 10 years. Some worth noting include:

• The need for increased accountability to donors. New procedures that have been put in place include systematic endowment reviews; endowment reporting to donors; systematized memorandum of agreements with donors; gift acceptance policies; and a public information policy.

• The need for strengthened relationships with campus partners to further advance fundraising efforts. The ISU Foundation has strengthened relations with campus partners and provided fundraising staff in key areas that are tied to university priorities.

• The need for more openness. The ISU Foundation is making more information available to the public than ever before. This includes financial statements, budgets, fundraising costs, travel expenditures, staff salaries, policies and procedures, gifts received, how gifts are expended and more.

More Information
The ISU Foundation Web site provides a variety of information about its fundraising efforts on behalf of Iowa State. Click here for more information (www.foundation.iastate.edu).