L believes that attending a college or a university is among the most important things for any young person to do. In these tough economic times, though, it is getting harder and harder to pay for college. Tuition continues an upward spiral, while more and more parents lose their jobs and fewer banks are willing to make loans.
Focus on lobbying the state legislature for more funding for our university, and work towards freezing tuition if we are successful in getting more funding for our university. Our first priority is keeping tuition increases as minimal as possible.
Provide more support for getting scholarships from outside the university, helping Iowa students get more of the money they need.
Books
L believes that printing textbooks costs a lot of money and kills trees. We will encourage professors to use textbooks that are available electronically to help save students money.
Encourage professors to primarily use textbooks that are available electronically. This way students can spend up to half as much on their books. Students will be able to buy ebook readers with their savings the first year, and each additional year they can save hundreds1.
[1] – Princeton, Yale, Oxford, and UC Berkeley have all already started this initiative. See also http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9979179-7.html