Staying in Iowa may not be a top priority for all ISU graduates.

Although more than half of the College of Agriculture’s graduates remain in Iowa, only one-third of graduates in other programs, such as engineering, stay in the state.

According to a survey conducted by Career Planning and Placement Services, 53.1 percent of employed bachelor’s degree recipients of the 1999-2000 school year found jobs in Iowa.

Steven Kravinsky, director of career placement in Liberal Arts and Sciences, said each graduate’s decision is a personal choice. He said some people are leaving Iowa because they want to get away from a conservative farm state they don’t see as exciting. He said some graduates are leaving because Iowa employers pay lower wages compared to other states.

On the other hand, Kravinsky said some students do decide to stay in Iowa.

“They live here, they grew up here, they’re comfortable here,” he said. “They know they can make a good, clean living in Iowa.”

Kravinsky said there are more graduates staying in Iowa than there were five years ago.

“When I came to ISU in `92 there were more graduates leaving Iowa,” he said. “That number grew steadily until `98, but now it’s turned around.”

The College of Agriculture had the highest number of graduates remaining in Iowa at 68 percent.

Beverly Madden, director of career planning and placement, said 23 percent of the students registered for fall 2000 were out-of-state students and 6 percent were international students.

“One of our concerns [with this survey] is that the number of students employed in Iowa is underreported,” she said.

Madden said every students’ geographic origin before attending Iowa State had a great deal to do with whether they remained in Iowa after graduation. Madden said there has not been a study of out-of-state or international graduates staying in Iowa to date, although this is something she is interested in pursuing in the near future.

“I worry that there’s something in those statistics that we’re not able to tell people,” she said.

Michael Gaul, director of career placement in agriculture career services, said agriculture students are fortunate to have opportunities in Iowa.

“Iowa is just so ag based that [the number of ISU graduates employed in Iowa] doesn’t surprise me,” he said.

Gaul said many companies try to recruit agriculture graduates to move out of state.

“I think [the recruiting opportunity] is just a chance to experience new things – to get `out of the box’ and experience new places, new ideas and new concepts,” he said.

Years ago students did not have the same opportunities available now, Gaul said.

“During the farm crisis in the late `80s you were fortunate to find a job,” Gaul said. “Back then, if you got a job offer, you didn’t care where it was at. When opportunity knocked, you went for it.”

Larry Hanneman, career services director for the College of Engineering, said the top values for engineering grads include salaries, benefits, opportunities for professional growth and staying near family.

“It’s heartwarming to me to think about Generation X-ers considering these values,” Hanneman said.

“It says something remarkably mature in the way these young people are going about making their decisions.”

Hanneman said students are looking at more than just climate in making their decisions about seeking employment. They go where they feel the best jobs are for them. He said students are not completely geographically focused in their decisions – they go to the best job, not the most exotic location.

This same decision-making process is also seen among students in the College of Education, said Toni Humpfer, coordinator for career services in the College of Education.

“It’s just such a personal choice in terms of what each graduate feels are the benefits. Iowa’s strong educational focus has prepared a lot of candidates for jobs in education,” Humpfer said. “More of our students are able to find employment in Iowa.”