Brooklyn Draisey covers higher education across Iowa for Iowa Capital Dispatch. Prior to joining the Iowa Capital Dispatch team, Draisey reported stories from the Quad-Cities, covering the region’s arts and culture community and connecting individual perspectives to larger issues influencing everyone. She fell in love with journalism at a young age, watching national news and reading local publications with her family, and has pursued her career in the industry since joining her high school newspaper. She worked as a reporter and editor at The Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa’s student-run newspaper, and reported on Eastern Iowa for The Gazette and The Southeast Iowa Union before graduating in 2021. Draisey holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and certificate in Entrepreneurial Management from the University of Iowa.
Beat: Higher education at a crossroads
Higher education is at a crossroads in Iowa, especially the public universities. The budget this year for the three universities is less than what it was 20 years ago, in inflation-adjusted dollars. Tuition is rising and enrollments are dropping. The diversity of the student body has increased but there are fewer international students. This reporter investigates the effects of these trends on higher education quality and access, especially to underserved communities, and the effect on Iowa's workforce and economy.