Student dip puts pressure on UNI's budget - Jens Manuel Krogstad

Millions of dollars are at stake if projections are accurate that enrollment will drop at the University of Northern Iowa this fall. The dip could be as big as 473 students, a nearly 4 percent decline that would put a $6.1 million dent in the university’s $166 million budget. That would leave about 11,800 students on the Cedar Falls campus, the lowest total since 1989. Officials, though, said they hope enrollment will settle above 12,000. UNI’s challenges are the result of the state’s stagnant high school population, bad publicity from contentious budget cuts last year and an improving economy that’s pushing people out of the classroom and into the workforce, according to several education experts. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130605/NEWS/306050053/1048/ENT02/?odyssey=nav%7Chead&nclick_check=1