Greetings, CALS colleagues,
I hope you had a great weekend with some good weather and some much needed rain, too. But some of that rain came with devastating storms in parts of the state. We should all take a pause on this Monday and think about those fellow Iowans (and others across the country) suffering with the burden of storm damage, injuries and loss of life. The damage and impact of these storms will last for a long, long time. Take a look at this graph showing interesting trend data on tornadoes.
Lots of good things happening in the college, some of which is represented in the pictures and captions below. As we head into the summer, please double-down on your safety awareness and planning.
This is Soil and Water Conservation Week (April 28-May 5), and the truth is that in Iowa, every week is about soil and water!
An interesting article just recently came out of the APLU about college/university student loan debt that’s about $1.75 trillion nationwide. Average new car loan debt (for a “good” that only depreciates, while education appreciates) is more than $40,000 and totals nationwide at about $1.6 trillion. Do we hear about a car loan debt crisis?
From APLU Public Affairs, April 25, 2024:
What’s the typical debt load of students at public four-year institutions?
- More than four in 10 undergraduate students at public four-year universities complete their degree with zero debt.
- Nearly eight in 10 students graduate with less than $30,000 in debt.
- Among those who do borrow, the average debt at graduation is $27,400 - or $6,850 for each year of a four-year degree at a public university.
- Those with over $100,000 in debt are rarer still: they are anomalies representing half of 1% of all four-year public university undergraduates completing their degrees.
Learn more about college costs, debt, and ROI for a degree from a public university.
Here is some data on Iowa State in regards to student loan debt. We do well and help our students in this regard via the Office of Student Financial Success.
Have a great week. - Dan
Scenes from CALS
The Department of Agronomy hosted the 2024 National Soil Judging Contest April 21-26, with professors Lee Burras and Amber Anderson leading the effort that included more than 250 students and coaches from 25 universities across the country. It was a great event with Shelley and Jeff Taylor and Ron Huhn (College of Veterinary Medicine alum) having the soil pits excavated on their farms near Gilbert to facilitate the individual competition. CALS alum Wade Dooley ('05 agronomy) hosted the team competition on his farm near Albion, Iowa. The top three winners were Virginia Tech, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Iowa State's team did not compete because they were hosting the event and focused on ensuring it went smoothly. The last time Iowa State hosted the national competition was in 1974.
At the April 25 luncheon at the ISU Alumni Center for the Iowa Board of Regents ISU Awards for Faculty and Staff Excellence program, it was to good to see ABE's Matt Darr, Ben Drescher (formerly with animal science, now with CIRAS) and BBMB's Meimei Xu recognized with these truly high honors!
Last week, I went out to see ag tech field work with Levi Powell, a research manager with ABE's Digital Ag Innovation Lab (and an AST alum!). A bit windy, but a great day to talk tech.
