Student Debt

The Debt Crisis

Student debt is a serious issue for college students. American students average roughly $21,000 in loan debt upon graduation. The problem is especially tough for students at Iowa colleges and universities. As of 2008, students in Iowa were ranked number one for having the highest student debt upon graduation in the. Of the colleges and universities in Iowa, ISU students have the most student debt.

Skyrocketing Costs

From 1997 to 2007, total cost of attending Iowa State University has increased 71.2%, including a tuition and fees hike of 119.1%! And between ISU, UNI, and Iowa, average debt for graduating seniors with debt was $26,208. Today, Iowa State students graduate owing an average of $30,000.

How did we get here?

A special taskforce made up of Student Body Presidents, Vice Presidents of Business and Finance, Directors of Student Financial Aid, University Foundation Presidents, and others was created this year by the State of Iowa Board of Regents to help answer this question and provide a plan of action to help solve the problem. The charge of this task force created by Board of Regents President Miles is to analyze the issues of student debt of students graduating from Iowa’s public universities, review recommendations from a previously authored report, and provide a detailed working plan of action for the Board to take in addressing access and affordability, and the student debt issue.

The link below is of the report made by the first taskforce identifying the key contributing issues along with the taskforce’s recommendations.

Part II (pages 6-8)

Solving the Problem

The taskforce made several recommendations and is currently formulating a final report of how to achieve these recommendations. Below is a link to the report recommendations:

Site

GSB leading the Charge!

The GSB believes that the student debt crisis is the number one issue facing our graduates. We applaud the effort of the Board of Regents and our University, but recognize that we must play key role in enacting change. We will be facing this issue by working with the University Administration, state government, Federal government, and of course you the students. Utilizing our governmental relations organization the ISU Ambassadors we will begin contacting state legislators and Iowa’s federal congressional delegation to lobby for a variety of important policy changes. Below are the changes we want to see enacted: