ISU president Steven Leath talked about the rapid rate at which his campus is growing. It has seen six consecutive years of record enrollment and hired 105 new tenured or tenure-track faculty last year.

The 1.75 percent increase in operating appropriations would translate to $3.17 million for Iowa State, and Leath said that would translate directly to more faculty hires.

“We are running out of ways to deal with more students without more resources,” he said.

The regents' new funding model, which ties a bigger share of state allocations to in-state enrollment, would redistribute $12.9 million away from Iowa in its first year.

Regents have asked lawmakers to provide that $12.9 million in this first year to keep Iowa whole and give it time to adjust to the new funding metrics. The $12.9 million, whether it comes from the state or the U of I, would be split. Iowa State would get $6.3 million, and UNI would get $6.6 million.

Leath praised the new model on Monday, saying, “This is the best performance-based funding model I've seen.

“I'm very supportive of it,” he said. “It would do a lot of good things for Iowa and Iowa State.”