Picture this: Your new car just fell in value from $10,000 to $8,600 in less than two months.

That’s what happened this summer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has plummeted 14 percent since mid-July. The Dow, a measure of 30 key stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, is sometimes viewed as a barometer of the U.S. economy.

Despite the dramatic drop, consumer confidence is still high, and at Iowa State, both students and professors seem to be optimistic.

“At this point, I’m not really worried about it,” said Lisa Hlubek, senior in biological/pre-medical illustration who said she does not own any stock.

Hlubek’s plan to start investing after graduation has not been disrupted by the uncertainty on Wall Street.

“It could all change by the time I have money,” she said.

For investors, the market has felt more like a roller coaster in recent weeks than a ride to easy riches.

At Tuesday’s final bell, the Dow was up 79.04 points to close at 8024.39, far below its July 17 high of 9337.97. It was only the third trading session in the last 13 that the market moved less than 100 points in either direction.

This schizophrenia came to a hilt last week as all four trading days produced gains or losses that broke the century mark.

On Sept. 8, as the market opened after the long Labor Day weekend, it shot up 380.53 points for a record 5 percent gain. Over the next two days, it fell 405 points, only to rise 180 points on Friday, leaving investors out of breath but with a net gain for the week.

ISU economics professor Marvin Hayenga said he is not sounding the alarm yet.

“If students are long-term investors, they shouldn’t worry too much about what goes on in short-term volatile markets like these,” he said.

In the last 50 years, the stock market has risen an average of 10 percent every year, and Hayenga said patience is a must for stockholders.

“There still are periods of time where there are two or three years where things could be down or flat,” he said.

Hayenga advises students to invest only if they can ride out the peaks and valleys.

“If you need money in two years, you better not be putting it in the stock market,” he said.

The best options for students are no-load stock index funds, Hayenga said. He said shares of these funds can be purchased on the Internet from companies such as Fidelity or Vanguard.

Jon Rudisill, freshman in performing arts, said he plans to invest only after he pays back his student loans.

“I need to pay for college first, and then if I have any extra money, I think it will be a good idea,” he said.

Some observers have compared the market’s steep fall to “the crash” of 1929, but Rudisill disagrees.

“I don’t think that it’ll hurt much because we’ve already learned from the Depression,” he said.