After telling reporters on Aug. 14 that student input was factored into the University of Iowa’s proposed five-year tuition plan, UI President Bruce Harreld expressed interest in further engaging with the UI Student Government on issues facing the university.

“A year ago, this conversation started with the faculty and staff body, and as we put together our strategic plan and in working with our [state Board of] Regents and alumni, without you in the process, we decided that we were going to chase excellence,” Harreld said. “… We’re going to try to return ourselves to [being a] top-notch, big-league, academic institution.”

To do that, the UI has estimated it would take about $150 million over five years to do so, Harreld said.

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Harreld spoke to UISG at the organization’s first meeting of the semester Tuesday night about issues currently facing campus, including the cost of tuition and the quality of the UI as a higher education institution.

“I think we can do better on a lot of different issues,” Harreld said. “We owe you more, [but] at the same time, that’s going to cost something.”

Harreld acknowledged the reality of the decreasing amount of appropriations from the state in relation to the lack of resources offered at the UI to boost the institution’s quality, which displays itself in how the UI ranks in comparison to other institutions in key areas like graduation rates and income after graduation.

“The debate we should have is what type of institution do we want to be,” Harreld said.