A Republican vying for the District 45 seat in the Iowa House of Representatives said she wants to help students fight apathy surrounding education.

Charity Faber, 609 Stanton Ave., who made her bid for the seat known Wednesday, said she hoped to help curb rapid increases in tuition.

“The state budget over the past 12 years has doubled,” Faber said. “Iowa has always made education a priority; where has all the money gone?”

She said there is a need to evaluate where the budget is and ask what could be handled better.

“The biggest thing for me is education, in the sense of making it a priority [on the state budget],” Faber said.

“If we make education a priority, we won’t underfund it or misfund it.”

Faber is a graduate of Iowa State and a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. She said she understands the financial strains students are going through since she paid for and worked through college herself.

Alongside the need to lower the costs for higher education, Faber said emphasis also needs to be placed on keeping Iowa college students in the state when they graduate.

Faber said an important part of the economy needs to be keeping Iowa-taught students in the state.

“The biggest priority is finding jobs [for graduates],” Faber said. “Lots of companies come here to recruit, because they know Iowans are hard workers, but we need to keep students in Iowa too. What is the point of educating our youth if they can’t find a job when they graduate?”

She said one step to helping keep students in Iowa is to make Iowa a business-friendly state. Faber said keeping students and attracting new businesses would also help grow Iowa’s tax base.

Faber said she has an advantage over her competitors because she has never been in an elected position before. She feels this can bring a “breath of fresh air” to the government.

“There aren’t too many 25-year-olds running for government,” Faber said.

Faber will be running against Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, 518 Ash Ave.

Story County Treasurer David Jamison said he felt Faber was a good candidate from the brief amount of time in which he and she talked. He said the worst kind of candidate is a reluctant one, and he said he thought Faber demonstrated a passion for the job.

“I think she is a very sharp, articulate young lady with a great passion and interest in public service,” Jamison said.