Hunter
02/28/20
The Iowa House of Representatives have advanced a bill that would require the University of Iowa Dental and Medical schools to admit at least 75 percent Iowa residents, in the hopes of keeping them in the state upon graduation.
The legislation includes people who attended an Iowa state community college, college or university in the 75% benchmark.
The bill passed along party lines, 54-44, and includes tasking the University to provide an annual report to the Legislature detailing how many students in the programs stayed in-state and how many left after graduation.
Democrats, who oppose the bill, say the bill not only won’t accomplish the goal of retaining doctors, it would cause a financial burden on the UI.
The Daily Iowan says that a majority of students at the colleges of Medicine and Dentistry are already in-state. Requiring a higher percentage would mean a drop in out-of-state tuition revenue by as much as a million dollars a year.
Representative Dave Jacoby of Coralville said the state would be better off raising Medicaid rates and reimbursements so that rural hospitals could afford to hire more doctors, rather than putting admission burdens on the university.