Revenue
  • Tuition Revenue
  • Facilities and Administrative Cost Recovery Revenue
  • State and Federal Appropriations
  • Other Revenue
Tuition Revenue

All tuition revenue is managed within the General Fund. The Distribution of Tuition Revenue diagram illustrates the distribution of tuition revenue.

Tuition revenue is distributed to the academic colleges and office of Student Financial Aid formulaically. The distribution formulae are different for each level of education, status of residency, and field of study.

Non-Collection & Late-Term Adjustment Allowance

Non-Collection Adjustment Allowance

A non-collection allowance is applied to the gross assessed tuition to account for tuition that is not expected to be collected during the fiscal year. The discount rates are applied to the gross assessed tuition prior to the distribution of tuition revenue to the colleges and the Office of Student Financial Aid. These rates are based on 3-year rolling averages of non-collection at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional student levels and will be calculated and adjusted each year.

 
Late-Term Adjustment Allowance

A tuition adjustment allowance is also applied to the gross assessed tuition to account for tuition assessment changes that occur after the regular summer, fall, and spring distributions. These adjustment factors at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels are to account for late tuition adjustments as a result of student and college initiated appeals, adds, and drops which can happen for up to two years after the original distribution. The percentages will be calculated and adjusted each year, based on a three-year average.

Central Student Financial Aid

Tuition revenue generated from nonresident undergraduate students is used to fund undergraduate student financial aid programs administered through the Office of Student Financial Aid.  General state appropriation is used to directly fund resident undergraduate student financial aid programs administered through the Office of Student Financial Aid (see General State Appropriations).

A nonresident undergraduate student financial aid discount rate is applied against assessed nonresident undergraduate base tuition (net of the non-collection and late-term adjustment allowances). The discount rate is based on the annual nonresident undergraduate student financial aid budget as a percentage of the projected annual nonresident undergraduate base tuition revenue.

A portion of the supplemental tuition revenue from nonresident undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in higher-cost programs is used to support need-based financial aid for students enrolled in the higher-costing programs. General state appropriations is used to directly fund resident students enrolled in higher cost programs. 

A portion of the supplemental tuition revenue from international undergraduate and graduate students is used for international student scholarships.

A professional veterinary medicine student financial aid discount rate is applied against assessed professional veterinary medicine tuition. The professional veterinary medicine student financial aid discount rate is 7% of the professional veterinary medicine tuition revenue.

Standard Undergraduate Student Tuition Revenue

Tuition revenue generated from standard undergraduate tuition rates is distributed to the colleges using two different methodologies. Twenty-five percent of the tuition revenue is distributed to the college based on the student's college of enrollment. This component of the tuition revenue distribution model takes into account the actual tuition assessed for each student (academic degree program, classification, residency, and credit hours enrolled). The remaining seventy-five percent of the tuition revenue is pooled (student credit hour revenue pool) and distributed proportionately to each college based on the colleges' shares of the total undergraduate student credit hours generated for the term.

Graduate and Professional Student Tuition Revenue

Tuition revenue generated from graduate and professional veterinary medicine student tuition rates is distributed to the college of enrollment. When a graduate or professional veterinary medicine student takes a course outside their college of enrollment, a revenue transfer occurs from the student's college of enrollment to the college teaching the course. The revenue transfer is based on the student credit hours generated from the course multiplied by a dollar per credit hour rate established for the term. The dollar per credit hour rate for the term is based on the term's average undergraduate dollar per credit hour rate (determined by the term's seventy-five percent component of the undergraduate tuition revenue distribution) multiplied by 115%.

Differential tuition revenue

The net supplemental tuition revenue (after the non-collection late term adjustment, and nonresident student financial aid set-aside) generated from undergraduate and graduate students goes directly into the students' academic home colleges.

A total of four distributions of tuition revenue occur over the fiscal year to account for the summer, fall, winter, and spring tuition.

Summer, Fall, and Spring Term Distribution

Information Technology utilizes "fee descriptions" for the purpose of creating the Tuition Distribution Report that is outside Workday. This report reflects RMM detail to be used to produce a journal entry, distributing tuition revenues to the colleges and the Office of Student Financial Aid. The fee descriptions map to Accounts Receivables' "selling agencies". For example, multiple fee descriptions will map to a small number of selling agencies. These selling agencies map to Workday's tuition revenue categories.

Tuition revenue recognition journal entries include a debit to accounts receivable and a credit to tuition revenue. This revenue recognition is posted into a central control account administered by the Division of Operations and Finance, utilizing ten tuition revenue categories established in Workday reflecting student level, standard, or higher costing programs, and residency.

Preliminary Tuition Distribution Reports are available to view following the official 10th day enrollment counts. Mid-term Tuition Distribution Reports are available in early October and mid-March for fall and spring semesters. These preliminary and mid-term reports provide actionable data for senior budget leaders, allowing for better data-driven decisions and response times.

A single distribution of tuition revenue to the colleges and Office of Student Financial Aid occurs at the end of each term, in August, December, and May following a verification of the final Tuition Distribution Report and reconciliation with what will go into Workday Finance. Allocations to distribute the tuition revenue per the RMM are done via journal entries by debiting tuition revenue from a central "contra-revenue" account and crediting tuition revenue to the colleges and Office of Student Financial Aid. A reconciliation of tuition revenue in the central control account and the contra-tuition revenue account occurs on a periodic basis.

Winter Term

Tuition revenue distribution occurs in January and is distributed to the colleges teaching the courses using the average assessment per SCH, less the non-collection and late-term adjustment set-aside. No student financial aid is set-aside from the non-resident tuition.

Four sets of data are used for the distribution of tuition revenue -- student enrollment, tuition assessments, student credit hours, and course offering attribution data.

Student Enrollment Data

The Office of the Registrar's 10th day student enrollment census data for each term is used to determine the undergraduate, graduate and professional student's college of enrollment.

Undergraduate Students. For the purpose of distributing the undergraduate tuition revenue to a college based on the student's college of enrollment, the college whose department is offering the student's primary major will receive the twenty-five percent portion of the tuition revenue. The undergraduate student's college of enrollment is based on the college that is offering the student's primary undergraduate degree program.

Interdepartmental Undergraduate Degree Programs. Undergraduate students enrolled in interdepartmental undergraduate degree programs that are administered within one college are classified to the college's administration department.

Dually-Administered Undergraduate Degree Programs. For those undergraduate degree programs that are administered jointly between two or more colleges, the students are assigned to a single college.

Multiple Undergraduate Degree Students. For undergraduate students who are pursuing multiple undergraduate degrees, the Office of the Registrar's records captures both a primary degree and a secondary degree. Generally, the primary degree is determined by which department is providing the primary advising for the student. For undergraduate students who are pursuing a minor, the Office of the Registrar's records captures both the major and the minor of the student.

Concurrent Undergraduate and Graduate Degree Students. Students who are pursuing both a graduate and undergraduate degree concurrently are assessed as graduate students and therefore are classified as a graduate student. The student is classified to an academic department and college based on the graduate degree of the student as recorded by the Office of the Registrar's 10th day enrollment census record.

Graduate and Professional Veterinary Medicine Students. For the purpose of distributing graduate student tuition revenue, the graduate student's college of enrollment is based on the college that is offering the student's primary graduate degree program.

 

Interdepartmental Graduate Degree Students. A graduate student enrolled in an interdisciplinary graduate degree program is attributed to a college based on the following criteria.

  1. If the graduate student is enrolled in an interdepartmental graduate degree program that is administered by multiple colleges and has a major advisor, then the graduate student is assigned to the department where the major advisor has his or her primary rank home.
  2. If the graduate student is enrolled in an interdepartmental graduate degree program that is administered by multiple colleges and does not have a major advisor, then the graduate student is assigned to the department where the director of the graduate interdepartmental program has his or her primary rank home.
  3. If the graduate student has not decided on a graduate degree program and therefore does not have a major advisor, the graduate student's major program record appears in the 10th day enrollment census file as 'UNDEC' (undecided) or 'UDIST' (undecided distance education). These graduate students are assigned to the department as determined by the Graduate College. Typically, these graduate students are assigned to the college that is offering the majority of the student's courses during each term.

Tuition assessments are based on the department associated with a student's graduate degree program and major professor of choice. Differential tuition is assessed to students if their home department is assessed differential tuition.

Dual Graduate Degree Students. Students who are enrolled in a dual graduate degree program or pursuing multiple graduate degrees are classified to a department and college based on the graduate student's current primary degree as recorded by the Office of the Registrar's 10th day enrollment census record. Therefore, the college whose department is offering the primary graduate degree program for a term will receive the graduate student's tuition revenue for that term.

 

Tuition Assessment Data

The Office of the Registrar's tuition assessment dataset is used to determine the tuition revenue that is distributed during the fiscal year. The dataset is captured multiple times during the fiscal year to correspond with the Tuition  Distribution Report timeline outlined above. Tuition assessments do change over the course of the term to reflect changes in both student and course enrollment. 

 

Student Credit Hour Data

The Office of the Registrar's course enrollment data is used to determine the number of student credit hours generated during each term. Course enrollment does change over the course of the term due to students adding and dropping courses.

 

Course Offering Attribution Data

The Office of the Registrar's course offering and resulting student credit hour attribution data is used to determine the attribution of the student credit hours to the colleges.

The student credit hour attribution is based on the contribution provided by each of the departments at the course level. Contribution, in this sense, includes costs and effort associated with course delivery (e.g. teaching effort, grading, administrative support) as well as course design, development and coordination. For the vast majority of courses, there is a single department that provides all of the administrative support, teaching effort and funding for a course. In these cases, 100% of the student credit hours generated from the course would be attributed to a single department. The student credit hour attribution should be split between departments when the contribution is shared by more than one department. This could include shared teaching responsibilities by faculty in multiple departments (as reflected in the course registration system) or significant effort between departments to develop and design a course.

The system to attribute SCH to departments and colleges under the RMM will require that the "primary offering department" enter SCH attribution data into the course offering system within the legacy ADIN system. Other departments or programs that have an interest in a course (e.g., courses that they cross list in their departments or programs) will have read-only access to the data fields, and they are encouraged to provide input to the primary offering department on how SCH should be attributed. However, only the primary offering department may enter or modify data in the system for any specific course.

The course offering data system is course based and non section based. So, when courses have multiple sections, the instructional effort in each section must be considered when entering the data for the course. For each course and semester offered, the primary offering department will list the departments contributing to the course and the percent effort for each department. The total percent effort across departments for any one course in a single semester must total 100%. 

 

Timelines that the four datasets are captured

Below is a table that summarizes the timelines that the four datasets are captured.

 
Distribution Student Enrollment Course Enrollment SCH Attribution Tuition Assessment
Summer end-of-term 29th day of summer term Last working day of term Last working day of term Last working day of term
Fall mid-term 10th day of fall term Last working day of Sept. Last working day of Sept. Last working day of Sept.
Fall end-of-term 10th day of fall term Last working day of term Last working day of Sept. Last working day of term
Spring mid-term 10th day of spring term Last working day of Feb. Last working day of Feb. Last working day of Feb.
Spring end-of-term 10th day of spring term Last working day of term Last working day of Feb. Last working day of term
Facilities and Administrative Cost Recovery Revenue

Facilities and administrative cost recovery revenue generated from sponsored funding is managed both within the General Fund and outside the General Fund. The Facilities and Administrative Cost Recovery Revenue Distribution diagram illustrates the distribution of indirect cost recovery revenue.  Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Cost Recovery Revenue is managed within and outside of the General Fund.  These two options are further expanded upon below.

F&A Cost Recovery Revenue Managed Within the General Fund

Sixty-five percent of F&A cost recovery revenue is managed within the General Fund and is formulaically distributed to Resource Responsibility Centers.

Sixty-five percent of F&A cost recovery revenue is managed within the General Fund and is formulaically distributed to Resource Responsibility Centers.

Interdisciplinary Research Support

Ten percent of the total F&A cost recovery revenue is distributed directly to the Office of the Vice President for Research. The distribution is intended to support strategic interdisciplinary research activities.

Grant Administration

Ten percent of the total F&A cost recovery revenue is distributed to the Resource Responsibility Center to support the direct costs of administering the grant or contract. There is only one Resource Responsibility Center designated to receive the grant administration portion of the revenue distribution model.

Research Facility and Administrative Overhead

Forty-five percent of the total F&A cost recovery revenue is distributed to the Resource Responsibility Center(s) to support the academic mission conducted by departments and centers. Distributions are based on effort and October payroll costing allocations. Each year, the October 31 payroll and FTE data will be refreshed and available by November 15.

The Office of Sponsored Funding Administration and the Office of Sponsored Program Accounting jointly maintain the dataset used for the grant administration and research overhead components of the revenue distribution model. The data originates from the grant or contract proposal form. Units can update the distribution data when the grant or contract is awarded and when there are substantive changes to how the grant or contract is administered and/or the research activity is being conducted (ex: change in unit administering the grant, change in the principal investigators on the grant, change in where the research is being conducted).

If changes to the distribution data are needed and have been agreed upon by all the units affected by the change, the following process should occur:

  1. The unit administrating the grant will distribute a copy of the Supplemental Budget Form to each of the units affected by the change for their signatures.
  2. The unit administrating the grant will then submit the signed Supplemental Budget Form with the updated distribution data to the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration.
  3. The Office of Sponsored Programs Administration will enter the revised distribution data into their database and send a copy of the Supplemental Budget Form to the Sponsored Programs Accounting Office.
  4. The Sponsored Programs Accounting Office will enter the updated distribution data into the Sponsored Programs Accounting system.

The changes to the distribution data are effective once the data is entered into the system by the Sponsored Programs Accounting Office. The changes are not applied retroactively to previously collected IDC revenue.

F&A Cost Recovery Revenue Managed Outside the General Fund

Thirty-five percent of the F&A cost recovery revenue is managed outside the General Fund and distributed as follows:

Distributed as follows:

  • Fifteen percent is distributed to the principal investigator(s) incentive account(s). For the purpose of this distribution, 'principal investigator' is defined as the principal investigator and all co-principal investigators. Investigators will receive these monies as long as the award yields the maximum allowable F&A cost rate from the organization that awards the funds. If the award does not yield the maximum allowable F&A cost rate, the principal investigator incentive is forfeited and distributed to the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development to support faculty research startup packages.
  • Twenty percent is distributed to the Overhead Use Facilities Fund (OUF) and to the Faculty Research Startup Fund (FRS) to be divided between them with an initial split of approximately 15% to OUF and 5% to FRS. The distribution between OUF and FRS is impacted by the overall F&A rate used in the following manner:

    • Grants that use the standard on-campus rate are distributed 15% to OUF and 5% to FRS
    • Grants using an exception rate are distributed fully to FRS
    • Grants using the off-campus rate are distributed fully to FRS

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The OUF is managed by the Senior Vice President for Operations and Finance (SVPOF) to support the university’s research infrastructure in general fund on-campus buildings. 

F&A cost recovery revenue that is collected during the month is distributed around the 10th day of the following month. So that a full year of F&A cost recovery revenue is posted to the current fiscal year, there is a final distribution of indirect cost recovery revenue that is posted to the month of June in early July.

General State Appropriation

As reflected in the General State Appropriation flow diagram and described below, the general state appropriations provides funding for the Resource Management Fund, resident undergraduate student financial aid, and the units whose budgets are part of the University Administration and Support expense pool.

Resource Management Fund

The Resource Management Fund is used to provide funding to support general operations of the Resource Responsibility Centers. The distribution of this fund is not formulaic, but is distributed at the discretion of the President and Senior Vice Presidents.

Distribution Methodology and Timeline

Fundamentally, the Resource Management Fund is used to carry out the university's mission and accomplish the goals of the strategic plan. The distribution to the Resource Responsibility Center starts with the Resource Management Fund allocation from the previous fiscal year and adjusted to meet established goals and priorities.

The allocation of the Resource Management Fund is established during the budget development process and is distributed to each of the Resource Responsibility Centers at the beginning of the fiscal year (i.e. July).

Resident Student Financial Aid

The General Fund budget for the Office of Student Financial Aid funds resident student aid entirely by general state appropriations, as prescribed by state law.

Directed State Appropriations

Iowa State University receives funding from directed state appropriations to support unique aspects of its mission. Specifically, these funds help support the following units:

  • Agriculture Experiment Station
  • Cooperative Extension Service in Agriculture and Home Economics
  • Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
  • Biosciences Innovation
  • Center for Industrial Research and Services
  • Small Business Development Center
  • Livestock Disease Research
  • ISU Research Park

The funding from these directed state appropriations is distributed directly to these units as required by law. These units are distributed the funding when the funding is received from the state agency.

Directed Federal Appropriations

Iowa State University receives funding from federal appropriations to support its land grant mission. Specifically, these funds help support the following units:

  • Agriculture Experiment Station
  • Cooperative Extension Service in Agriculture and Home Economics
Administrative Overhead Charge

Administrative charges are recognized as a negative expense as opposed to revenue. The purpose of the administrative overhead charge is to recover part of the costs of providing central support services. Business units of the university that generate external income (and that are not subject to F&A cost recovery) may require their cost centers to pay a fee. Generally, the charge is based on a percentage of the external revenue generated, but in some cases the fee is a predetermined fixed fee.

Investment and interest income managed within the General Fund is earned from the investment of General Fund cash balances. Miscellaneous university income managed within the General Fund is generated from application fees and deferred billing charges. Investment and miscellaneous income managed within the General Fund are used to partially fund the University Administration and Support expense pool.

Other revenue and funding that is managed outside the General Fund includes, sponsored contracts and grant funding, private gifts, patents and licensing revenue, sales and service revenue, and student fees.

Funding from contracts and grants are distributed directly to the unit(s) that conducts the research, extension or outreach activity.

Funding raised in collaboration with the Iowa State University Foundation is distributed to the unit that manages the activity as specified by the donor.

Revenue generated from patents and licensing is distributed directly to the respective unit responsible for the patent or license.

Revenue generated by sales and service activities conducted by departments, centers, and auxiliary units are distributed directly to the respective unit responsible for sales and services activities.

Student Fee Revenue

Revenue Generated by student fees provide a distinct resource to maintain and enhance student experiences and is distributed directly to the relevant units.