college debt
Podcast: When It’s Payback Time For College Debt
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Listen to this year’s college graduates from the state of Iowa talk about their debt, what they gained from it and their hopes for paying it off.
Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism (https://www.iowawatch.org/tag/iowa-board-of-regents/)
Listen to this year’s college graduates from the state of Iowa talk about their debt, what they gained from it and their hopes for paying it off.
Some students graduating from an Iowa college or university this month will have to pay off debts that could be close to $100,000. Other loans facing college students are far lower and a lot of students have avoided debt. But for many, taking out loans remains necessary in order to go to college, an IowaWatch College Media journalism project showed. “I don’t wanna’ be in debt, but I made the decision to come to school and I think for most students, when they make that decision, it’s kind of already married to the decision to take students loans as well,” Nick Hodges, finishing his senior year in communication studies and writing at Coe College, said. Hodges, 28, from Crawfordsville, Indiana, was one of several students interviewed at eight Iowa college campuses this spring for the IowaWatch project.
Iowa is speeding toward a dangerous crossroads this week, and there has been too little discussion about what might occur and zero discussion about what the state should do.
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.
The grade might stun you — Iowa receiving a D-plus for government transparency from the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity Monday morning, Nov. 9, in a government transparency study of all 50 U.S. states. These same organizations gave Iowa a C-plus the last time they studied government transparency for a March 2012 report. How could Iowa do worse this time? Iowa has made some moves, notably forming a Public Information Board later in 2012 to better resolve complaints Iowans have about government openness.
Iowa’s estimated 2014 population of 3.1 million marked a 2 percent increase from when the 2010 census was taken, a rate slower than the 3.3 percent national population growth in that same time. This IowaWatch Connection podcast takes you deeper into the story.
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.
Iowa students have the third highest student debt in the nation.