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A report released last week shows that college is too expensive in the state of Iowa.  The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave Iowa an F on Affordability.  Iowa gets good…



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Iowa is facing a worker shortfall. However, Iowa is a net importer on the number of college students, but has failed to keep these young people in the state after graduation.

Yesterday, the Generation Iowa Commission released their report on ways to stop Iowa’s brain drain and keep young people in the state. The report calls for cutting the amount of student loan debt and for ways to increase wages.

The report recommends…

- A higher-education tax credit. Iowans who have earned degrees in the past 10 years should be provided an annual income tax credit of $1,500 for bachelor’s degrees and $2,000 for a graduate or professional degree.

- A targeted student-loan repayment assistance program. Students graduating in “critical need professions” should receive loan repayment assistance three times over 10 years, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

- Change Iowa’s economic development incentives to require higher salaries. Iowa should stop including the value of employee benefits, such as health insurance, when meeting pay requirements for state incentives and look only at salary, the group said. “A company can claim to be paying above average wages, when in fact the take-home pay is lower than comparative jobs.”

Recommendations also addressed issues such as matching young workers with careers and improving Iowa cities and towns:

- Create a merit-based scholarship program with residency expectations. Attracting and retaining the nation’s best students could help “drive explosive growth.”

- Eliminate or limit “noncompete” contract clauses in state government and private businesses. The group said the clauses “inhibit competition in the work force and drive top, young professionals out of state to start businesses or further their career.”

- Create or support an online statewide job and internship exchange.

I agree with many of the groups recommendations. I have pointed out many times that student loan debt is driving Iowa’s brain drain. These recommendations would be a great start to keep young Iowans to stay in the state.

I wish the group would have mentioned ways to stop rising tuition rates at Iowa’s colleges and universities that causes the large amount of student loan debt.

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The Generation Iowa Commission held their first public meeting yesterday and the conclusion was that student loan debt and rising cost of college tuition are the driving force behind Iowa’s brain drain.

From the Des Moines Register…

“As long as student loans are as big as they are around here, we are forcing people to make that decision” to seek employment outside of Iowa, said Kyle Carlson, chair of the Generation Iowa Commission.

Carlson, 27, is a recent graduate of Drake University’s law school and works as an attorney for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa. He carries roughly $200,000 in student debt, which works out to monthly payments of more than $1,000.

That’s more than his mortgage payments.

“I could go to Chicago, do the same job and make $30,000 more a year, but I don’t want to,” said Carlson, who grew up in Waverly. “I’m probably in the minority, but I think we can do things to make this state a better place to live.”

I have written about this issue numerous times on this blog. When you have monster payments on your student loans, it is logical to go where you can make more money and a lot of times that place is not in Iowa.

The Generation Iowa Commission is looking at ways to keep young Iowans in the state.
The question they need to answer is should the state do something to forgive student loans for people who stay in Iowa or should they just try and make college more affordable for everyone, so that people don’t end up with so much student loans.

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Last week in Des Moines, Chris Dodd outlined his education plans. As a public school teacher, I was very interested to hear what Dodd had to say. Dodd has long been a champion of K-12 public education and has introduced in a bill in the Senate to reform No Child Left Behind that has been endorsed by the NEA.

The part of his plan, however, that stuck out to me was his call for free community college. Dodd would reform the student loan system and make changes to the subsidies banks recieve. Banks would then have to compete with one another for the loans. Dodd would use these savings to provide matching funds to states for tuition at community colleges. If a state picked up 20% of the cost then they would get 20% from the federal government. If a state picked up 50% of the cost then the federal government would pitch in the other 50%.

Sen. Dodd’s plan would open up access to many Americans. This plan is a bold vision that could spark economic growth for years to come. Community Colleges are tremendous vehicles to promote education of people of all ages. If people are looking to gain a college degree or for job training, community colleges are key parts of the education system.

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Nicholas Johnson has a must read post about the corporatizing of education……it will be a shame if this is perceived as merely the “Wellmark-UI College of Public Health Naming Issue” when it is so much bigger and can more usefully be addressed in th…

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My State Representitive Mark Smith (D-Marshalltown) put out a press release this week citing the improvements in education made during the last legislative session. As a teacher, I am very excited about many of these. SMITH TOUTS EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT…

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Rekha Basu of the Des Moines Register has a column today called College Costs Shutting Doors about the issue of rising college costs and how affects the common Iowan.Basu writes about the income gap of those that can afford attending college is growing…

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I have written that one reason Iowa’s young people are leaving the state is because of higher student loan debt when they have graduated college. Here is what I wrote back in September…However, young people decide if they want to stay in Iowa when t…

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On Friday, Bruce Braley visited UNI to discuss the recently passed bill that lowers interest rates on student loans. From the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier…”This bill affects the 5.5 million students who currently receive subsidized Stafford loans,” …

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The Des Moines Register has a story about Democrats in Congress plan on cutting interest rates on student loans.Democrats plan to propose legislation this week cutting interest rates in half on subsidized Stafford undergraduate loans, from a fixed rate…

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