Report: Community college funding drops 21% - DIANE HELDT, Cedar Rapids Gazette

State funding for Iowa’s community colleges has dropped while enrollment has grown dramatically, which means increased reliance on student tuition and fees, according to a report released Thursday by the Iowa Fiscal Partnership. State funding for community colleges held steady during the 1990s but showed a net decline over the past decade. The adjusted-for-inflation decrease in state funding — a 21 percent drop from 2001 to 2012 — came at a time when enrollment increased by more than 60 percent, according to the report.