Although a college education is always expensive and represents a significant opportunity cost for students, Iowa State reportedly has some of the lowest in-state tuition around, according to recent findings by the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal’s survey ranked Iowa State 17th out of “72 public universities with substantial research activity, including many state ‘flagship schools’” for lowest tuition. The report cited our $7,726 yearly rate for 2012-13 in a range from a low of $6,049 to a high of $16,590.

This news was surprising, given the constant concern about possible ways to slow down the rising rates of student debt and the possibility of lowering tuition by eliminating tuition set-asides. 

The financial burdens of rising tuition, which many students meet through more and more borrowing, have been cause for concern for a years. Taking a quick glance through the Daily’s archives online, we find that in March 1997, one student wrote a letter to the editor to express his concern that students held too much debt. To combat this problem, he said, the university should lower tuition. “The university should not be sending its students into the workplace with debts that could run into the tens of thousands,” he wrote. “This is wrong.”

In July 1998, a columnist decried Congress’ apparent lack of concern about the accumulation of student debt. “Congress currently is taking a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde approach to student financial aid. Lawmakers express their generosity by providing federal loans and grants. But those same legislators reveal a sinister side when they play with the possibility of chipping away financial aid, which, by the way, accounts for a measly two percent of the federal budget,” she wrote.

In September 1997, Iowa State President Martin C. Jischke brought the issue before the Iowa Board of Regents. “There’s a limit to the debt [students] can carry,” he said at the time. The next semester, in January 1998, a news article compared student indebtedness and financial aid at Iowa State to that of the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Drake University. Back then, Cyclones graduated with about $17,600 in student loan debt.

What we wouldn’t give to graduate with a mere $17,600 in student loans!

Alas, student debt and tuition have only risen, and student debt has persisted as a point of much contention.

The Government of the Student Body currently has a page on its website to describe its assessment of student debt, with ideas to mitigate borrowing to attend college. In May 2012 the university touted its efforts to increase financial literacy and awareness among students. And in July, President Steven Leath testified before a committee of the U.S. Senate, pinpointing many ways in which universities can make a college education more accessible from a financial standpoint.

The Wall Street Journal’s report suggests that, on paper, student debt at Iowa State should not be as high as it is. We expect there are a few possibilities as to the cause. Perhaps students are borrowing more than they need, using the extra money to pay not for books and other academic expenses but Xboxes, clothes, cars and booze. It’s possible that students simply are unaware of the financial commitments they are making. Maybe parents and families do not contribute as much as they should, or incoming students have no savings upon which to draw.

The tuition rate set by the Board of Regents and the appropriations made by the state cannot be the only contributor to the problem of student debt. Since there are so many peripheral issues involved — some of which may even be cultural — finding a solution, digging through all the accounting and demographic data, will require immense energy and dedication. But if the prospect of high student debt is what keeps potential students from going to college, and thereby keeps colleges from contributing to the world outside their campuses, the origins of student debt clearly need definition.