Earlier this month, you probably received an e-mail inviting you to take a survey for the Government of the Student Body. GSB was very fortunate to have 1,565 students, who generally represent the campus demographics, respond.

From the results of the survey, 10 conclusions have been drawn regarding debt, job prospects, fees and other campus aspects. These results and conclusions can be viewed at www.gsb.iastate.edu. The following five major issues stand out the most.

This year, GSB has made student debt the primary focus, as multiple resolutions, programs and events have been held to discuss the issue.

Seventy-two percent of students believe that GSB should be focusing their efforts towards preventing large tuition increases. Information sources on student debt have reported approximately two-thirds of ISU students have debt.

Based on this fact, we have inferred that if students have debt, they have a large amount of it. Approximately 34 percent of respondents reported debt ranging from $0 to $10,000. The remaining 66 percent was spread across a wide range, but 15 percent reported having more than $50,000 of debt.

For such a percentage of students to have this much debt is truly a reason to expand financial literacy efforts and continue grassroots efforts to increase state legislative support.

The Generation Iowa Commission is a state organization that has been studying why so many Iowans leave the state upon graduation. High student debt, salaries and a lack of entertainment have been the primary reasons cited for this brain drain.

These factors partly explain this exodus, but 28 percent of students report wanting to stay and 42 percent report being undecided in the GSB survey findings.

The overwhelmingly most important piece for determining where students go is an actual job offer. These are followed in order by salary, cost of living, proximity to family and culture/entertainment.

Two continuous issues that universities are concerned with are safety and alcohol consumption. Two years ago, tragedies hit the campuses at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois, and the Board of Regents responded by arming campus officers.

Although crime still occurs, a large majority of students feel very safe on campus. Only 3.5 percent of students are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with overall campus safety.

A common perception about college students is that a majority excessively consume alcohol — but in reality, most students consume moderate or minimal amounts.

The survey results closely followed this belief, with nearly 90 percent of students consuming alcohol once per week or less, and two-thirds of students consuming less than three drinks per episode.

The last issue on the survey had students give the Government on the Student Body an approval rating.

The strong majority of students were neutral when asked about the organization’s performance, which probably suggests a combination of a lack of knowledge about GSB actions and apathy toward the organization.

Of the students that did not rate neutral, 30.1 percent reported being satisfied or very satisfied versus 8.8 percent being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Although apathy can never completely be eliminated, GSB is making many efforts to communicate the actions of the body, and we hope you will tell us your thoughts, whether good or bad.

The information from this survey will truly help the organization plan in the future, and we thank all who participated.

Daniel Fischer is GSB president and a senior in agricultural business.