Legislation is was passed by the Iowa Senate aims to help individuals going to college decide on their career paths and decrease the amount of student debt.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says Senate File 2361 would require colleges to publicize their workplace employment data, starting salaries and the average accumulated debt for all different fields of study.

“If you decide to go into a certain field (of study) or looking for a job, it would be nice if you knew ahead of time that ‘Yeah hey, I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting a job doing this, or is this something that I really don’t have of very good chance of getting a job and I may end up with a lot of debt.’”

Behn points out another highlight of the bill includes requiring public universities to provide plans for courses of study to be completed in three years, so that students aren’t saddled with as much student debt. Behn adds that the legislation would also require students to take a financial literacy course before they graduate from college, which he says needs to be installed in high school as well.

“I visited with a business owner one time, I think he said he had 57 applications and he could ceremonially dismiss about 40 of them because they were not filled out properly. That’s one of those things that you think, wow you shouldn’t have to go to college to figure out how to fill out an application.”

The bill passed the Senate 39 to 10. It is now in the House for consideration.