Average student debt upon graduation from Iowa State has fallen below $30,000 for the first time in five to six years.

The steady decrease of student debt can be attributed not only to an increased concern and awareness among students, but also an increased desire among faculty to provide financial education and aid to students.

This year’s average student debt for graduating students who borrowed money while in school decreased to $29,455. Students who never borrowed a penny while in school are not included in the denominator of this average.

“In 2008 when our economy started to go downward and so many people lost jobs, a lot of people started to tighten their belts,” said Roberta Johnson, director of the Office of Student Financial Aid.

In 2005, the financial aid office began a concerted effort to decrease average student debt at Iowa State. Its goal is to increase student awareness and knowledge of student loans and finances.

Iowa State offers student financial aid to cover every cost of attendance. This includes a student’s tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies and personal living expenses. Johnson said students need to be aware they are not required to take out loans for all these expenses.

“Just because a loan is offered on their financial aid award does not mean they have to borrow that full amount,” Johnson said.

She said she believes students should be fully aware of what they borrowing money for.

“I’m prouder of the student that came in here with nothing and said, ‘I could have borrowed $40,000, but I managed to figure out how to get out of here with [$10,000].’”

Johnson also attributes the decrease in student debt to legislation passed, which prohibits individuals younger than 21 from obtaining credit cards without a cosigner, but believes the most important step to decreasing debt is creating a budget.

“I think the greatest things students can do is number one, develop a budget,” Johnson said. “It is so easy for money to just evaporate from everyone’s wallets. It is not just students that that happens to.”

By having summer jobs, working hard, renting textbooks, finding cheap places to live, budgeting well and utilizing all resources, students also can see financial improvements.

Douglas Borkowski, director of the ISU Financial Counseling Clinic, said students also need to seek out as much “free money” as possible.

“Seek out any scholarships possible,” Borkowski said. “Take the time to do that scholarship hunt.”

This year, Borkowski said the student financial counseling clinic is on pace again to meet with a record number of students in one-on-one conferences.

While Borkowski does meet with students concerned with student debt, he also meets with individuals to discuss budgeting, buying their first house, investing or even job benefits.

“It’s not like we are seeing all students with problems,” Borkowski said. “A pretty large number of the students we are seeing, it’s about planning for their future.”

Borkowski said Iowa State is a leader in student financial education and currently the Financial Counseling Clinic and the Office of Student Financial Aid are working to make each student’s experience even better.

At the national level, Johnson said conversations are taking place as well. In the past few years, Iowa State has lost a total of $450,000 in supplemental grant funds as well as $250,000 worth of work-study program appropriation. Overall, this makes it more challenging to provide students with scholarships and financial aid.

“That is why I am so excited that [ISU President Steven Leath] is talking about reducing student loan debt and realizes that it is critical that we raise scholarship support,” Johnson said.

The University of Northern Iowa recently adopted a campaign to increase awareness among students about student debt.

The main message is “live like a student while you are in college, so you don’t have to after you graduate,” Johnson said.

Next year, Johnson hopes to replicate some elements from this campaign at Iowa State.

“It is just going to be interesting to see as we navigate the financial aid scene going forward, can we continue through these additional efforts to maintain our trend of downward indebtedness of our students?” Johnson said. “There is not going to be one silver bullet. We are just going to have to attack it from a lot of different fronts.”