The three public universities in Iowa on the May 15-17 weekend held commencement activities, ending the 2025-26 academic year and sending thousands of graduates onto the next phase of their lives.
With that year ended, we are taking a look back at the state of those colleges today.
The three universities date back to the late 1840s and the University of Northern Iowa marked its 150th year in 2026.
The common shorthand is that the University of Iowa is a place where lawyers, doctors and liberal arts students get training, while Iowa State University trains prepares college students for engineering and agriculture positions, and UNI graduates people who become teachers and accountants and work in other business fields.
You will hear lots of people weighing how the colleges function in 2026, on the quality of the classes, graduation rates, costs and controversial topics on campus, including the erasure over the last two years of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - or DEI.
There will also be an additional short segment, as I address having my youngest daughter wrap her academic career at one of the universities.
The guests for this episode are Roxanna Curto, an Associate Professor of French and Spanish at the University of Iowa and President of the Faculty Senate, plus
th Roxanna Curto, KURT-)who is an Associate Professor of French and Spanish at the University of Iowa and President of the Faculty Senate, plus Bri Cortez, who from high school in Sioux City, before she attended Iowa State University in Ames.
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The Iowa Board of Regents oversees UNI, Iowa State and Iowa, to provide high-quality accessible education to students, and also to engage in high-quality research, scholarship, and creative activities to enhance the quality of life for Iowans and society in general.
In one measure of that, a February Regents report said the three universities combined to add $18 billion in income to the state of Iowa’s economy during fiscal year 2023-24, according to an economic impact study from a labor market analytics firm.
That report continued, saying the figure of $18 billion is equal to approximately 7.7% of the total gross state product of the state. The study also notes that the total of university activity supports more than 214,000 jobs, which is one out of 10 jobs in Iowa, and returns more than two dollars for every taxpayer dollar spent.
Robert Cramer, president of the Iowa Board of Regents, the three universities drive an economic engine.
“With the cutting-edge activities that our universities undertake, including education, research and service, Iowa’s Regent universities continue to make a huge and lasting positive impact on the lives of everyone in our state,” Cramer said.
Board of Regents members are selected by the state legislature, as nominated by the governor.
One key goal by the Legislature is to keep college affordable and to have as many students as possible graduate in four years.
The current tuition for in-state undergrads is $9.800 for the year, plus books and fees and housing and food on top of that, which can be another $12,000.
As of 2023, the average student debt for people exiting the thee Iowa public universities was $28,657, as compared to $26,800 in 2020. That student debt stat is less than the amount of graduates from private colleges in Iowa.
As for the enrollments, this year the U of Iowa had 31,583 students, Iowa state had 31,105, and UNI had 9,200 for a third straight year, although it used to sit above 12,000 in the 1990s and 2000’s.
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Concerning measures designed to kill diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs in colleges, a few months ago University of Northern Iowa President Nook told me those moves have been viewed by students in differing ways, both supporting and disliking them.
Also at UNI, officials there over the last year have been implementing a new curriculum for its teaching students.
That curriculum looks to better prepare students to teach in a changing classroom.
It makes paths for transfer and foreign language educators clearer, and also might soon create specific courses to deal with the ethical and technological effects of Artificial Intelligence in the classroom.
More than 2,500 undergrad and graduate students, or roughly one-fourth of the full college enrollment, are studying education at UNI.
Also at the University of Northern Iowa, Nook acknowledged challenging dynamics in educating students in longstanding or new fields, at a time of changing demographics and increasing outside influences.
Nook – who is a native of Holstein, Iowa – also has been enjoying a series of 2026 events, as the 150th year anniversary for UNI is being marked up through the homecoming activities this fall.
