Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism (https://www.iowawatch.org/tag/drake-university/page/2/)
Iowa’s population has remained largely stagnant over several decades and, despite state efforts to entice young workers to stay, many Iowa college graduates leaving the state are keeping it that way.
Des Moines is a growing with professional opportunities for young graduates; it just doesn’t have what two Drake University seniors in this report are seeking.
As part of the third annual IowaWatch college media project, 10 student journalists at seven Iowa campuses conducted interviews with graduating students to delve into the issue of brain drain in Iowa. The interviews reveal students’ post-graduation plans and reasons for either leaving or staying in Iowa.
When Donna Musel started work as Buena Vista University’s disabilities coordinator only two students with illnesses requested classroom accommodations to help them do their college studies. “Now I have quite a few more than that,” Musel said this spring.
Thanksgiving weekend football has become as much a part of the holiday festivities as the turkey. When the Hawkeyes go up against the University of Nebraska and the Cyclones face West Virginia this weekend, they will participate in long-standing traditions. Just how long-standing? Find out in this IowaWatch news quiz.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Some hard work and a little luck has left a handful of graduating seniors at Drake University free of any student-loan debt, and anxiety about wading into the workforce. Erin Hassanzadeh, 21, a graduating broadcast major from Bloomington, Minnesota, who has accepted a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in Korea, said she has saved wages from work she has done since she was 13. Her first job was helping out at her parents’ restaurant back home. She also got help from her parents and a generous scholarship from Drake, she said. “I’m very thankful for that,” she said.
When it comes to telling voters who is spending money on political ads, Iowa fails. It got an “F” in a recent study on state disclosure policies for political spending by independent groups, or groups not connected to political candidates. Iowa was among 25 other states that received failing grades. This kind of anonymous spending threatens the transparency of elections, said Arthur Sanders, a political science professor at Drake University. If a group spends $10,000 on ads, voters have no way of knowing where the $10,000 came from.
IowaWatch project with college student journalists in Iowa shows that, despite growing numbers of state and federal programs aimed at improving students’ financial literacy and years of talk about Iowa’s high student debt, students continue to graduate with debt that will follow them long after they leave the classroom. This report includes video interviews from students affected by their debt.