Fighting COVID-19 in Iowa

COVID-19 scuttles jobs, internships for Iowa’s college students

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Paige Marsh went through five interviews before getting a job offer from a national insurance company, headquartered in Des Moines, back in January. “I have been in touch with the company every month since I signed my offer letter,” Marsh, a senior business administration major at Wartburg College,  said. “And then I just got the call about the company freezing all new hires until 2021.”

She will continue to search for work in the meantime. College students, like Marsh, who are ready to hit the job market, now find positions hard to find or internships have been postponed or canceled. The jump to the “real world” is typically full of anxiety and uncertainty for seniors — and this year is no different with COVID-19 unsettling the job market.

education costs

High Textbook Costs Are Sending College Students Looking Elsewhere During Studies

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Dylan Miller spent $495 on college textbooks at the University of Northern Iowa – $167.50 for a linear algebra textbook – in the spring semester just ending, yet said he might have used the books, perhaps, once a month. The internet? Used it close to two hours each day, he said, raising the issue of why he still buys textbooks. “That’s a great question,” Miller, 20, a sophomore this spring semester from Homestead, Iowa, and studying for a major in actuarial science, said. “I will not be buying textbooks next semester.”

A lot of college students are avoiding textbooks costs that generally can range from around $20 for a book on writing grant proposals to $400 for a physics book, a spring IowaWatch/College Media Journalism Project revealed.

Education

College Textbook Costs, In Their Words: Clarice Kies, Loras College

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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.

student journalists

Help Us Support Student Journalists

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We at IowaWatch are raising funds to pay stipends to more than a dozen student journalists from six Iowa campuses in an IowaWatch/College Media reporting project. These journalists are interviewing students, faculty members and administrators to learn about this topic and to report it to you later during this spring.

Iowa State University

IowaWatch Connection: Political Climate

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Political rhetoric seems more heated, and the discussion nastier, than ever. We’ll talk with analysts, journalists, and veterans of Iowa political campaigns about the situation, and how we might get back to more effective dialogue and governing.

brain drain

Video Interviews: Brain Drain In Iowa

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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.