A Funnel Thing Happened...

The legislative process in Iowa continues to be a daunting proposition to understand as bills are killed before they can be voted on by the full body. Below is a summary of those items that are DOA (and that doesn't mean "Department of Aging") and those that are Stayin' Alive.

According to the Des Moines Register:

ALIVE

These bills survived today's funnel deadline and will see more debate.

Jobs and economy:

WORKERS' CHOICE OF DOCTOR: Iowans injured on the job could choose their own doctor in workers' compensation cases. Senate File 155.

PREVAILING WAGE: Workers on certain government construction projects would see government-set standards for wages and benefits. House File 333.

BARGAINING: Unions representing public employees could negotiate more items. This bill could restore much of what Culver vetoed last year; Culver said he believes a compromise may be reached. House Study Bill 269.
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MENTAL HEALTH INSURANCE: Smaller businesses that provide health insurance for their workers would have to provide coverage for mental health conditions, including alcohol and drug abuse treatment. Senate File 16.

MASS LAYOFFS: Iowa companies that lay off 25 or more would have to give workers 30 days' notice. House File 681.

WEB BUSINESS: There would be a lower investment threshold for Microsoft and other Web portal businesses that expand or locate in Iowa to get tax breaks. Senate File 302.

PUPPY MILLS: The state could inspect federally licensed dog breeders in Iowa to better deal with abuse and neglect. House File 486.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES: A technical bill on the Public Employment Relations Board. This is the bill that was amended last year to contain open-scope bargaining legislation. House Study Bill 269.

UNEMPLOYMENT: Benefits to the unemployed would be expanded for six months if they enter a training program. House File 623.

IOWA VALUES: Various business financial assistance programs would be changed. House File 656.

MORTGAGES: To help keep people in their homes, this bill would deal with those facing bank foreclosure. House Study Bill 170.

Environment, recreation, transportation:

CAR EMISSIONS: Most Iowa passenger vehicles would have emissions standards beginning with the 2011 model year to limit greenhouse gases. House File 422.

UNINSURED MOTORISTS: Coverage in case of accidents involving uninsured or underinsured motorists would be increased. Senate File 321.

BIODIESEL: Owners of diesel vehicles filling up in Iowa would be required to use biodiesel. Senate File 294.

NO BURNING: All cities would have to enact burn bans. House File 627.

HUNTING FEES: Out-of-state visitors would be charged more to hunt and fish in Iowa. Senate File 375.

BICYCLE RIGHTS: Bicyclists would have new protections, such as full use of a lane. Senate File 117.

DRUNKEN BOATING: Operators of motorboats, sailboats and personal watercraft would be considered intoxicated when their blood-alcohol level is .08, not .10. Senate File 3.

CONSUMER FRAUD: Iowa's 3,000-plus annual fraud victims could take individual court action. Senate Study Bill 178.

WAGE DISCRIMINATION: Penalties would be stiffer for businesses that violate the state's wage discrimination law. Senate File 137.

COLD MEDICINE TRACKING: Anyone who buys cold medicine that contains pseudoephedrine would have to sign an electronic logbook at the pharmacy so that Iowa law enforcement officials could track multiple purchases. Senate File 104.

GUNS: Sheriffs would have to say in writing why they denied a gun permit. House File 193.

AGRIPROCESSORS: Business owners would face steeper penalties for child labor law violations. House File 618.

INDECENT: People caught publicly masturbating could be charged even if the victim doesn't see genitals. House File 657.

PRIVATE INFORMATION: Private information would be redacted from recorders' records. House File 506.

PORNOGRAPHY: Adults who intentionally expose children to obscene images that could cause them harm would be guilty of child abuse. Senate File 271.

Government issues:

HUMAN RIGHTS: The state Department of Human Rights would undergo a major reorganization, including splitting it into two divisions: ethnic minorities and women, and disabilities. Senate Study Bill 1304.

CIVIL RIGHTS SUBPOENAS: The civil rights commission would have extra subpoena power to investigate unfair or discriminatory practices. Senate File 96.

FLOOD INSURANCE: Cities and counties with areas located in federally designated flood areas would be required to participate in national flood insurance. House Study Bill 181.

OPEN RECORDS: Loopholes in Iowa's open records law would be closed. Senate File 282. House Study Bill 234.

SEARCHABLE BUDGET: Would create a searchable database on the state budget. House File 74.

TAX: Cities that collect more sales tax than expected would have to tell voters how they spend it. House File 111.

Education, children and families:

COLLEGE COSTS: A judge would be allowed to order parents to pay for college costs even if the parents were never married. Senate File 113.

SCHOOL MERGERS: A task force would study merging school districts. House File 265.

ATHLETES AND OPEN ENROLLMENT: High school students who open enroll would be ineligible to participate in varsity sports for six months. House File 495.

SCHOOL DROPOUT AGE: Teens could no longer drop out of high school at 16. House File 259.

Health:

PROSTHETICS: Insurance companies could not deny medically necessary prosthetic devices. House File 311.

HEALTH INSURANCE: Employees of nonprofits and small businesses could purchase the same health care coverage as state workers. Coverage for children and other issues are part of this bill. Senate File 48.

Elder Iowans:

NEW NAME FOR ELDER AFFAIRS: The Iowa Department of Elder Affairs would be renamed the Iowa Department on Aging. Senate File 204.

NURSING HOME TAX: A nursing facility provider tax will be created so that the state can put it in a fund that can be used to draw down federal money. Senate Study Bill 1179.

ABUSE AND INJURIES: Dependent adults would have more protections from abuse that doesn't result in physical injury. Senate Study Bill 1206.

Veterans

PREFERENCE FOR VETERANS: Veterans would get preferential hiring for government jobs. House File 522.

INCENTIVES: Veterans who served at least 12 months of active duty would get cash incentives up to $5,000 for working in jobs with a shortage of skilled workers. Senate File 250.

Elections:

ELECTIONS: Polls for city elections could open at noon. House File 450.

CAMPAIGN SALARIES: Candidates could not use campaign cash to pay themselves, spouses or children. Senate File 50.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: The popular vote, rather than the Electoral College, would decide presidential elections. No matter how the vote turns out in Iowa, the state's electoral votes would go to the candidate winning the national popular vote. Senate File 227.

Alcohol-related

BEER AT WINERIES: Iowa wineries that host weddings and other functions could sell beer if they buy it from a wholesaler. Senate File 188.


DEAD

These bills failed to get enough votes to pass today's deadline, but no bill is ever truly dead until the session ends. Budget and tax bills are exempt from the funnel.

Jobs and economy:

FAIR SHARE: Unions could negotiate for the right to charge fees to nonunion workers covered by collective bargaining. This technically failed to meet this year's deadline, but Democratic leaders have an interest in resurrecting it House File 555.

PAYDAY LOANS: The interest rate would be capped at 36 percent for payday loans, which are based simply on a borrower's paycheck without proof of ability to pay. Advocates are pushing for it to re-emerge in a tax bill. House File 288.

MINIMUM WAGE: Iowa's hourly minimum wage would increase the same percentage every year as the increase in federal Social Security. House File 11.

Environment, recreation, transportation:

DISTRACTED DRIVERS: Drivers in Iowa would face a new penalty if they get into an accident while texting, watching TV or playing with a pet. Senate Study Bill 1217.

HANDS-FREE CELL PHONES: Drivers couldn't talk on a cell phone without a hands-free device. House File 9.

GAS TAX: State tax on gas and diesel fuel would go up, and the money would go to road and bridge repairs. Senate Study Bill 1182.

Justice:

PAROLE FOR YOUNG CRIMINALS: Iowans serving a life sentence for a crime committed while a minor could file for a sentence review after 15 years. House File 43.

Government issues:

ENGLISH LANGUAGE: An Iowa law that declares English as the state's official language would be repealed. House File 14.

HOG LOTS: Cities could regulate the siting of certain confinement feeding operation structures in unincorporated areas within two miles of city limits. Senate Study Bill 1161.

Education, children and families:

SCHOOL YEAR: The 180-day school calendar would be replaced with 990 hours of instructional school time at 5.5 hours per day for grades 1-6 and 1,080 hours of instructional time for grades 7-12. House File 26.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Students who fall behind their grade proficiency in reading or math wouldn't be able to graduate to the next level. House File 129.

GAY MARRIAGE: The marriage law would be gender neutral. The words husband and wife would be replaced with "spouse." Senate File 353.

LEAVING KIDS IN THE CAR: Leaving a child unattended in a car would be a simple misdemeanor with a $100 fine. House File 110.

SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS: Schools would be allowed to charge fees for field trips, but must waive them for low-income families. Senate File 274.

Health:

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Restricted marijuana use would be legal in Iowa for pain and nausea relief. Senate File 293.

AUTISM: Treatment of autism spectrum disorders must be covered by health insurance for anyone under 21. Senate File 1.

Elder Iowans:

SILVER ALERT: A "silver alert" program would be created to help locate missing people with cognitive impairments, such as elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. House File 369.

REPORTING HEALTH FACILITY PROBLEMS: When health care facilities commit a violation that puts someone in harm of danger or death, the Department of Inspections and Appeals would have to report those to the Legislature and governor. House File 512.

Veterans

VETERANS' PAYMENTS: Veterans' service-connected disability compensation could not be used to calculate child support or as assets in a divorce case. House File 170.

VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS: Veterans organizations wouldn't have to pay anything for a class A liquor license, regardless of how much liquor they sell. House File 66.

Elections:

CAMPAIGNING: Special interest groups couldn't distribute campaign material advocating for a certain candidate without that candidate's consent. House File 229.

Alcohol-related:

DISTILLERY SALES: Iowa distilleries could sell their products to visitors. Senate File 210.

Immigration:

STATUS DATABASE: A database would provide information to employers or state agencies on the immigration status or citizenship of a person. House File 109.

Smoking:

CASINO SMOKING: Smokers could no longer light up on the gambling floors of state-regulated casinos. House File 6.

OUTDOOR BAR SMOKING: Smoking would be allowed in outdoor areas of bars and restaurants. House File 174.

Missing in action on this list is the Senate Agriculture Committee caving in to the big-money interests of livestock commodity groups like the Iowa Pork Producers when they passed a bill (SF 308) that would undercut the Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) rulemaking process to restrict manure application on frozen ground.

Groups including Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Iowa Environmental Council, Des Moines Water Works, Iowa Farmer's Union, Sierra Club, and the Department of Natural Resources strongly opposed Senator Kibbie's bill and called on him to put our health and water quality above the interest of the factory farm industry by allowing the DNR to finish their rulemaking process.

On Senate File 308 and companion bill House File 574, CCI Executive Director Hugh Espey said, "These so-called attempts to regulate manure application on frozen ground are so weak and full of loopholes that they will lead to more water pollution caused by factory farms. For all intents and purposes, this bill stops DNR from taking strong action to protect our waterways. It's an excellent example of our elected officials kow-towing to corporate interests at the expense of the common good. Today's vote by the Senate Agriculture Committee is a slap in the face to everyone fighting for clean water."

Of course, bills can be resurrected and nothing is final until My 10th when the legislature closes it session.

Century of the Common Iowan Turns 3 Years Old

I glanced at the clock and saw there was just 5 minutes till midnight. I had forgotten that Monday marked the 3rd birthday for Century of the Common Iowan and I only had 5 minutes to put up a post to sum up those 3 years. Yeah right.

Well here's what I got written in an hour...

As I look back, it is interesting how the focus of the blog has evolved over those years. In the blogs first year I wrote a lot about issues such as the rising cost of college tuition and Iowa's Brain Drain, immigration, and the need for a trade policy that protects American jobs. Year two was all about the Iowa caucuses. The following year I was able to sit back and watch the primaries play out and lead up to the general election. With the 2008 elections behind us, I have been able to write more about policies and topics such as the emergence of Millennials, social media, education, and the need to invest in a creative economy.

3 years, 2,226 posts, and over 132,000 visitors later and here we are in the best of times, in the worst of times. Our current economic and political situation find us in a situation where remarkable change can take place (and if it doesn't, it's because we didn't make them do it) . It is time for big ideas. In the coming year I hope to focus on the big ideas that desmoinesdem laid out that I wrote about last month.

• Clean elections
• Promoting clean energy solutions
• Local control of hog confinements
• Passenger rail
  
• Rural broadband.

These are not new issues. Many I have written about since I started this blog, but now is the time to stop talking about these issues and start seeing real action. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama told the story that one voice can change a room, one room can change a city, one city can change a nation. It is my hope that over the past 3 years, I have been able to change 1 person's viewpoint on these key issues and encouraged 1 person to take action on these key issues.

I'd like to end by repeating what Rekha Basu wrote about activism that I posted about earlier today..

Still, it takes courage to be an activist. It requires putting yourself out there in public, daring to take the unpopular position and getting hostile feedback... But those who understand history know well the role activism has played in winning rights and making a more just, humane and accessible America.

Join in. Post comments. Attend your local Democratic central committee meeting. Call your State Legislators. Get active in a community group or city board. Start your own blog. Heck, run for local office.

It's time to make a ruckus. Let's go!

Iowa Gets Poor Grade on College Affordability

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 marks in college prepartion, participation, and completion.

PREPARATION: B

Iowa performs fairly well in preparing its young people for college, but there are large gaps by ethnicity.

• Eighth graders perform well in math, science, and reading, but their scores in writing are fairly low.
• Seventy-four percent of Hispanics have a high school credential, compared with 94% of whites.

PARTICIPATION: A

Iowa does well in providing college opportunities for young and working-age adults.

• The state is a top performer in the percentage of working-age adults enrolled in higher education.
• However, 24% of Hispanic young adults are enrolled in college, compared with 42% of whites.

AFFORDABILITY: F

Higher education has become less affordable for students and their families.

• Poor and working-class families must devote 40% of their income, even after aid, to pay for costs at two-year colleges.
• Financial aid to low-income students has declined. For every dollar in Pell Grant aid to students, the state spends only 33 cents-down from 40 cents in 1993.

COMPLETION: A

Iowa performs very well in awarding certificates and degrees.

• Sixty-three percent of college students complete a bachelor’s degree within six years.
• However, 50% of Hispanics graduate within six years, compared with 65% of whites.

This means that Iowa's investment in public education is paying off and preparing students to attend college.  These students are going to college and most are completing some sort of college program.  However, because college is not affordable these students are loaded with large student loan debt upon graduation.

This is a key cause of Iowa's Brain Drain.  Iowa needs to lower the cost of a college education in the state or we need a program to forgive student loan debt to encourage students to stay in Iowa after graduation.

Generation Iowa Report Calls for Cutting Debt, Higher Wages

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.

Student Loan Debt Drives Iowa's Brain Drain

The Generation Iowa Commission held their first public meeting yesterday and the conclusion was that student loan debt and the 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.

Dodd Calls for Free Community College

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.

Corporatizing Education

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 the larger context of the corporatization of higher education generally, and at the UI in particular. Whatever President Mason's focus turns out to be, it won't be long before we'll get a sense from her statements and decisions as to just how much further the "University of Iowa, Inc." is going to slide into the for-profit sector during her tenure.

As Iowa's Universities have been starved of funding since 1998, they have had to reach out for funding elsewhere by raising tution and looking for corporate funding. This decision will have long reaching effects throughout the state.

Rep. Mark Smith Touts Education Improvements

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 IMPROVEMENTS
FROM 2007 SESSION

Des Moines, Iowa – State Representative Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown cited improvements in education from birth to college as one of the top achievements of the 2007 legislative session, which ended last month.

“We came into session with a detailed plan to improve our education system and ensure our graduates are prepared for the jobs in today’s global economy. We accomplished every piece of our education agenda and Iowans will see the difference with expanded pre-school opportunities, more competitive pay for teachers and more affordable higher education,” said Smith.

Education highlights from the 2007 legislative session include:

Early Childhood
• Expanded special education services for birth to three year olds
(Senate File 588)
• 90% of four year olds have access to quality, affordable pre-school
within the next four years (House File 877)

K-12 Education
• Raised Iowa teacher salaries from 42nd to 25th over the next two years
(Senate File 277)
• Insisted that Iowa teachers are certified in the subjects they teach
(Senate File 588)
• Expanded tutoring and before/after-school programs to ensure students
get the academic assistance they need to be proficient at their grade
level (Senate File 588)

Higher Education
• Expanded work-study programs for community college and university
students (Senate File 588)
• Limited state university tuition increases to no more than the rate of
inflation (Senate File 588/Senate File 601)
• Made Iowa community college tuitions comparable to states in the
region (Senate File 588/Senate File 601)

Smith highlights expanded access to pre-school, higher teacher pay, and more affordable higher education. Many would think I would be most excited about the teacher pay since I am a teacher. However, I think the expanded access to pre-school and affordable higher education will have the most long lasting benefits and are the most significant achievements. Don't get me wrong, the extra money I will be getting next year and beyond will be nice, but you don't go into teacher to earn a lot of money.

The expanded access to pre-school will greatly help students come to school prepared to learn. This will make my job easy. I teach 2nd grade and this year I had 5 students reading at a kindergarten level at the beginning of the year. Of these students, only 1 had attended pre-school.

I have written numerous times about the rise in cost of a college education and our debt for diploma system. If we want to keep our young adults in the state, affodable higher education must be a priority.

It is great to see education once again become a priority in our state. These efforts will only strengthen our state in the future.

Rising Cost of College Shutting Doors

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...

The fact that it's gotten harder than ever to pay for college has caused a disturbing change in the demographics of incoming college students. Today's are about 60 percent richer in household income than the population average, according to a new study. That means the gap between those who can and can't afford college is growing. And it means that income inequality is bound to intensify since college graduates earn on average 60 percent more than those without a degree.

Basu discusses our Debt for Diploma system and the decline in financial aid that hurts middle class families...

At the same time, college aid has fallen. The number of grants as a proportion of student aid has declined each year since 2001, with states also allocating less money to higher education since then.

That leaves students taking on major debt. Grinnell students typically leave with $16,744 in loans to pay back; it's nearly double that much at Iowa State University.

Federal policy changes have also upset the balance, benefiting upper-income families at the expense of lower-income ones; 43 percent of the education tax credits and about 70 percent of the benefits of the federal tuition tax deduction go to taxpayers with incomes of $50,000 or more.

So basically it comes down to...

Rising college tuition + less financial aid = more students that graduate with a ton of student loan debt.

More student loan debt just gives students another reason to leave Iowa after graduating. These students leave Iowa for higher paying jobs elsewhere.

and

Rising college tuition + less financial aid = fewer students being able to afford to attend college.

This is what Tamara Draut, author of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30- Somethings Can't Get Ahead, calls downsizing your dreams. Students who get decent grades in high school, but aren't good enough for scholarships, are forced to forgoe getting a 4 year degree. These students then might attend a community college for 2 year degrees or not go to college at all because they are priced out of the system.

Basu concludes...

As a nation, we're in grave danger of intensifying the gap between the wealthy and those just making it, when the one reliable means to equality - a higher education - sits so high out of reach.

Bill Tackles Student Loan Debt in Attempt to Keep Young Iowans in Iowa

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 they graduate from college and today our young people are finding themselves graduating with a ton of debt from student loans from tuition nearly doubling since 2000.

Let's say a young Iowan graduates with a degree in education and has $50,000 of debt from student loans. Will that person decide to get a job in Iowa and make $30,000 a year or will they go to Texas and make over $40,000. How about a nurse who graduates with $50,000 of student loan debt. They can choose to stay in Iowa and make $30,000 a year or go to Minneapolis or Kansas City and make $45,000. A pharmacy graduate with student loan debt can stay in Iowa and make $90,000 or head elsewhere and earn well over $100,000.

These people may like Iowa, but that extra money sure would help pay off the amount of student loan debt they have accumalated. What choice would you make?

There is a bill being debated that addressess this issue. From the Des Moines Register...

One way Iowa can keep young people in the state is for employers who hire them to pay back all or part of their student loans in exchange for a tax credit from the state, one professor says.

College graduates could see their loan debt - up to $25,000 - erased within three years under House File 730, a bill supported by Democrats and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature.

Employers would have a competitive edge over those in neighboring states with an unusual way to recruit new graduates for hard-to-fill or competitive jobs, said University of Iowa business professor Jay Christensen-Szalanski, who came up with the idea.

Braley Visits UNI to Discuss Student Loan Releif

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," he said. After completing four years of college, such students are typically $13,000 to $14,000 in debt. The bill's effect "will be $4,000 over the life of their loans, just in terms of the interest they will pay."

Under provisions of the bill, the average Iowa student beginning college in 2007 would save $2,300 by the time the subsidized loan is paid off. An Iowa student beginning college in 2011 --- when the lower interest rate is fully phased in --- would save $4,460. Current UNI students have taken out 6,385 Stafford loans, which total more than $23 million in debt.

"It's a staggering impact on this university," said Braley. "That's why I was proud to be a co-sponsor of this bill."

Braley also favors other steps to make college more affordable...

He favors increasing the maximum subsidized student loan per year from $4,050 to $5,100 and expanding the eligibility. He also favors allowing students to have more than one of the variety of tuition tax credits available to them.

With college tuition more than doubling over the past 6 years, it is great to see Rep. Braley making this a priority. It looks like he sees the big picture and the student loan relief bill is only a start of lowering the cost of college and making higher education more accessible.

Democrats Work to Cut Interest Rates on Student Loans

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 of 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent by 2011.

The proposal - one of a handful of issues Democrats have vowed to raise in their first 100 hours in session - would affect more than 50,000 Iowa undergraduates who took out subsidized loans in 2004-05 and about 5.5 million students nationwide, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

All three of Iowa's Representives support this legislation. Rep. Boswell and Rep. Braley are co-sponsoring the legislation. It will be interesting to see what Tom Latham does considering Iowa State University is in his district. Rep. Loebsack had this to say...

"It clearly makes college more accessible," said U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Mount Vernon.

Financial barriers will prevent at least 4.4 million high school graduates from attending a four-year public college over the next decade, and prevent another 2 million high school graduates from attending any college at all, Loebsack said, citing the Congressional Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.

State 29 disagrees with this legislation and basically says that if people take out students loans then they are too stupid to realize they need to save for college. State 29 completely ignores the fact that tuition has doubled over the past 5 or 6 years while income for middle class families have been stagnant. These families could have been saving for college, but when tuition increases so fast over such a short period of time, the only thing that can be done is to take out loans. This legislation helps ease the burden of the loans.

This legislation is just a bandaid attempt to solve the issue of student loan debt. The real issue is the dramatic increase in college tuition and decrease in state funding for higher education. This will continue to be a problem until we make the decision that it is important to have affordable college education and invest in our future.

I was lucky to make it through college with very little student loan debt. However, I know a couple people that have said they are basically paying two mortgage payments, one for their home and one for their loans. Consider, how they could be growing the economy with that money if it wasn't going towards student loan debt.

Rising Tuition Increases Iowa's Brain Drain

Kyle at Diary of a Political Madman posted about rising tuition costs at Iowa's state universities. Kyle nailed it when he wrote...

U of I students will be forced to work more and take bigger loans to cover tuition increases. In a related but somehow unreported story, upon graduation those same students will likely leave the state for better paying jobs in bigger cities to help pay off their loans.

Rising college tuition has been an ongoing focus of this blog. Back in September, I wrote this...

It takes more than just getting young people in college for them to stay in Iowa. Yepsen's article shows that they are going to college. However, young people decide if they want to stay in Iowa when they graduate from college and today our young people are finding themselves graduating with a ton of debt from student loans from tuition nearly doubling since 2000.

Let's say a young Iowan graduates with a degree in education and has $50,000 of debt from student loans. Will that person decide to get a job in Iowa and make $30,000 a year or will they go to Texas and make over $40,000. How about a nurse who graduates with $50,000 of student loan debt. They can choose to stay in Iowa and make $30,000 a year or go to Minneapolis or Kansas City and make $45,000. A pharmacy graduate with student loan debt can stay in Iowa and make $90,000 or head elsewhere and earn well over $100,000.

These people may like Iowa, but that extra money sure would help pay off the amount of student loan debt they have accumalated. What choice would you make?

**Update**
In a related story, Democrats plan on cutting interest rates on college loans.

Iowa No Longer Leader in Eduation

A new study says that Iowa is no longer a national leader in education. From the Quad City Times...

DES MOINES — Iowa gradually is losing its status as a leader in K-12 education, according to a study released Tuesday that looks at the relationship between school funding and test scores.

“I think, in some respects, you get what you pay for,” co-author Charles Bruner said.

The study, titled “No Longer a Leader? Investments and Student Education in Iowa,” was compiled by the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, a budget analysis think tank.

The release came a day before the Iowa Department of Education issues its annual Condition of Education report and a week after an election in which Democrats — who have pledged to make major increases in school funding — won control of both the executive and legislative branches of state government.

I grew up in Iowa and attended public schools. I graduated from a public university and a priate university. Now I am in my first year teaching in a public school district. I have to say that when I was in elementary school, Iowa was the leader in education in the nation. I think it is pretty clear that is no longer the case. The quote about you get what you pay for is very fitting. Take a look at teacher pay and the rising cost of college tuition as two prime examples.

Invest in Universities to Keep Young People in the State

David Goodner, of Straight out of the Cornfield, is right on with this assessment of how to keep more young people to stay in Iowa.

Invest in universities

The next governor can retain and attract young people to Iowa by investing in an education economy, by developing the university industrial complex.

Young people want to do meaningful work in occupations with good wages and benefits. We also want to live in a rich cultural environment, where our viewpoints and lifestyles are respected.

We need cheaper tuition and incentives for nursing and education majors. We need to devote more resources to engineering, medicine, law and the sciences. We need to expand international studies, cultural geography and human-rights programs.

Young people will be challenged to stay here if we make Iowa an international center of education.
— David Goodner, Iowa City

I have written abou this issue numerous times (1, 2, 3) on this blog.

Then this past week, Diary of a Political Madman had this story about the Board of Regents being rumored to say they were going to cut all funding to the state universities.

Some University of Iowa faculty and staff are puzzled by statements attributed to Iowa state Board of Regents officials that UI should plan as though it would receive zero funding from the Legislature in the next five to 10 years.

They say they are even more puzzled that the regents -- President Michael Gartner and President Pro Tem Teresa Wahlert -- deny saying them.

Supporting our Universities is investing in our future.

College Tuition and How to Get Young Iowans to Stay in Iowa

State 29 wrote this week about an article by David Yepsen concerning the increased enrollment at Iowa's colleges and univeristies. State 29 ended the post with this...

You want Iowa kids to attend school here and stay in Iowa? Get them into degrees that will keep them in Iowa: nursing, teaching, computer programming, agriculture, business, health care, engineering, and considering how many fatties are in Iowa I think a few more exercise science grads are in order.

State 29 fails to see the big picture. It takes more than just getting young people in college for them to stay in Iowa. Yepsen's article shows that they are going to college. However, young people decide if they want to stay in Iowa when they graduate from college and today our young people are finding themselves graduating with a ton of debt from student loans from tuition nearly doubling since 2000.

Let's say a young Iowan graduates with a degree in education and has $50,000 of debt from student loans. Will that person decide to get a job in Iowa and make $30,000 a year or will they go to Texas and make over $40,000. How about a nurse who graduates with $50,000 of student loan debt. They can choose to stay in Iowa and make $30,000 a year or go to Minneapolis or Kansas City and make $45,000. A pharmacy graduate with student loan debt can stay in Iowa and make $90,000 or head elsewhere and earn well over $100,000.

These people may like Iowa, but that extra money sure would help pay off the amount of student loan debt they have accumalated. What choice would you make?

Fallon: Put Education Ahead of Profit

I got an email from Ed Fallon on a subject that I have written about a few times (here, here, and here)... the rising cost of college education. Fallon writes...

The point is that Iowa’s college students are being nickled and dimed to death. With the surcharge, the average tuition and fees for a student at one of the three universities will be $6,079. Just six years ago, it was $3,155. The fact that tuition has nearly doubled while median income in Iowa has remained stagnant over the past six years makes it difficult for many young Iowans to pursue higher education. Our universities have been largely publicly funded since the state constitution was ratified in 1846. However, 2006 marks the first time in our history when student contributions through tuition and fees are greater than the percentage of public funding.

The other point is that these increases are a direct result of the Board of Regents and the Legislature valuing entrepreneurship over education.

It is critical to the future of our state universities that the Regents do not lose sight of their primary goals: education and research. It concerns me to think that some members of the Board of Regents and the Iowa Legislature would set those ideals aside to turn a profit for private enterprise.

Education is not about the creation of cogs in the corporate wheel. Our state universities are designed to be places of higher learning, intellectual stimulation and development of an informed populace to lead Iowa forward. Replacing those goals with job training, startup investment and private entrepreneurship will deny more young people access to the dream of a college degree while creating yet another conduit for the funneling of our tax dollars into the pockets of big business.

Vilsack adds to his resume

Vilsack adds to his resume to be the named Sec. of Education in 2008. Vilsack has teamed up with Hillary Clinton on a plan to help students with rising college tuition.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York appeared together here today to tout a new $220 billion Democratic initiative to send more students to college in the face of soaring tuition rates.

If enacted, it would create 1 million more college graduates than would have been expected by 2015, they said. Americans must be “the most innovative and creative people on the face of the Earth, and to do that we have to have young people have access to college,” Vilsack said.

I wonder if Hillary is trying to make up for calling young people lazy?

Blog for Iowa writes about our Debt for Diploma System

Blog for Iowa has a nice post about a topic that I have written about a couple times: the rising cost of college. You might think that the Government would do something about this, but no, according the article...

On July 1, interest rates on student loans experienced the greatest jump in history, with the variable rate on common Stafford loans shooting up almost two percent for students and graduates. The rate hike comes as a result of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which was signed into law by President Bush on Feb. 8, 2006 as part of an effort to save the federal government more than $22 billion over the next five years. (By comparison, the Department of Defense spends approximately $8.1 billion a month in Iraq).

Check out my past posts about this topic here and here.

Hillary Kills the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs

Over the weekend, Hillary Clinton attacked young people at an event for the US Chamber Commerce. Clinton had this to say...

"Kids, for whatever reason, think they're entitled to go right to the top with $50,000 or $75,000 jobs when they have not done anything to earn their way up," the Dems' 2008 White House front-runner said.

"A lot of kids don't know what work is. They think work is a four-letter word," she told a Republican-leaning audience gathered at the annual U.S. Chamber of Commerce convention.

"We've got to send a different message to our young people. America didn't happen by accident. A lot of people worked really hard. They've got to do their part, too."

Is it so wrong for 20-somethings to want a good paying job after doing everything they are supposed to do in their lives? They graduate high school where they participate in many activities and get good grades. Then they head off to college where they likely have to work a part time job to help pay for the raising cost of tuition. They do all of this because their entire lives they hear about the importance of a college degree and the Surburban Dream. Finally, they graduate, knee deep in student loans, ready to get out in the working world. Welcome to our debt-for-diploma system.

When I first heard that Hillary said this I didn't believe it, but then I saw the clip of her saying it on the Daily Show tonight and was shocked. It just looked like she was pandering to the so-called swing voters. All politicians do that, however, you can do that without turning your back on the people that elect you. If you look at the people that staff campaigns the majority are 20-somethings that are working long hours for little pay. I have one question for Hillary...

What is the only age demographic to vote for Kerry in 2004?
Answer: 18-30 year olds