Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism (https://www.iowawatch.org/category/education/)
As soon as students get off Highway 30 and arrive at Iowa State University, in Ames, they are greeted with bright yellow banners saying, “welcome,” in multiple different languages. This is just one thing Julian Neely, a journalism and communication major from Des Moines and the 2018-19 Student Government president, said the university does to promote inclusivity and reach out to students of different backgrounds.
Q: What did you spend on textbooks this semester? Cody West: This semester, I spent $74.50 for one English textbook and it appears about $270 in course delivery fees… I also had a $81.49 textbook. Cody West, 21
Iowa State University
Spring 2018 senior
Hometown: Altoona, Iowa
Major: Biology
Q: Most expensive book:
West: Oh goodness. I want to say that my freshman year my biology book with the access code to do my biology homework was about $220. Q: How often do you use your textbooks?
Q: How much did you spend for all of your textbooks? Clarice Kies: I only had to purchase hard copy books. I think that the total was like, $179 for this semester. Clarice Kies, 22
Loras College
Spring 2018 graduating senior
Hometown: LaMotte, Iowa
Major: English
Q: Which was the most expensive. Kies: That would probably be my grant-writing book, or Proposal Writing, which was about $21.
Q: How much did you pay for all textbooks, hard copy and e-textbooks, this semester? Lucas Smith: I paid $350 for all my books. Lucas Smith, 21
Spring 2018 senior
William Penn University
Hometown: Sully, Iowa
Major: Sports and Recreation management
Q: What was your most expensive book, and how much did it cost? The most expensive book was Sports Law and I believe it cost around $200. Q: How often do you use your textbooks?
Q: How much did you pay for all textbooks, hard copy and e-textbooks, this semester? We need actual costs, not guesses or vague statements, such as “a lot.”
Susan Letsch: This semester I’ve spent an estimated $250 on textbooks. Susan Letsch, 21
Buena Vista University
Spring 2018 junior
Hometown: Le Mars, Iowa
Major: Social Work and Criminal Justice
A: What was your most expensive book, and how much did it cost? Letsch: Most of the books I rented this year, but my most expensive book would probably be my brand new, um, art book. And that was more than $100 itself.
Q: How much did you pay for all textbooks, hardcopy and e-textbooks, this semester
Sarah Timmerman: For the fall semester, I paid $125 and then for the spring, I paid $80. Together, that’s $205 for this entire year. Sarah Timmerman, 20
University of Northern Iowa
Spring 2018 sophomore
Hometown: Clive, Iowa
Major: Elementary Education, special education minor
Q: What was your most expensive book? Timmerman: My most expensive books were for Russia/the Soviet Union. They were each about $35.
Q: How many books do you have in circulation right now? Erin VanLaningham: Circulation… If we’re counting books, so I’ll use primary books like novels and things like that. Probably per class, six. But those are six novels. Q: Do you like to keep it to six?
The University of Iowa has services and programming to help African American and Latino students feel welcome but a lot of those students don’t know about them, students at a Thursday night IowaWatch/KCRG-TV9 public forum on diversity at the university said. Meantime, these students struggle to exist in a predominantly white campus, African American and Latino students at the forum said. “When you think of universities, you think of white spaces,” Kimberly Chexnayder, a senior from Kansas City, Missouri, said. “It’s so hard for white people to think about their own privileges.” ?
Despite efforts by faculty and staff to educate students about sexual assault prevention and reporting, colleges and universities in Iowa struggle to measure how effective these initiatives are on their campuses.
University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook said a proposed mid-year funding cut for the University of Iowa and Iowa State University but not the University of Northern Iowa reflects each university’s distinct mission, not favoritism. This IowaWatch Connection podcast covers that and other topics in an interview with Nook.
Some African-American and Latino students say they seek each other for support instead of University of Iowa diversity programs. That comes as a new Hechinger Report study shows many flagship universities across the country with relatively low African-American and Latino student enrollments, but he University of Iowa with a slight rise in first-time degree-seeking students from those minority populations.
