Hunter
02/09/25
The Iowa Board of Regents is questioning the methodology used to conclude over 20 programs across Iowa’s public universities have a negative return on investment.
The Gazette reports the high-policy conservative policy group Manhattan Institute presented state lawmakers with their study recently. Policy analyst Neetu Arnold said she used a return-on-investment, or ROI, calculator from the non-partisan Texas-based Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, or FREOPP.
The calculation evaluates a program’s return on investment by taking the lifetime earnings of a median graduate minus a typical graduate’s earnings had he or she not earned the degree, and then subtracting the cost of tuition, fees and other room and board expenses.
Arnold , during her presentation on January 22nd, said that majors at public universities have “gotten into the weeds of politics” — like gender studies, social work, and theater — and are more likely to have politicized courses and a negative return on investment.
Among the programs cited at the University of Iowa that have negative ROI were The UI Communication Sciences and Disorders program, linguistic and related language studies, dance, drama, social work, English, and ethnic, cultural minority, gender and group studies.