This is the second installment in a multi-part series about the rising cost of college and alternatives to academia.

College is a big deal. For most, it marks four years away from home in a welcoming environment. Four years of studying, taking exams, and being involved in an entirely new life. One unalienable certainty of going to college is the cost, which is only rising.

The Iowa Board of Regents raised total tuition and fees earlier this year by 3 percent. In 2023, the regents raised tuition by 3.5 percent.

Because the cost for a person to go to college has been found to alienate some from the idea altogether, the total number of trade jobs is expected to grow substantially in the near future, according to Fortis Colleges and Institutes, suggesting those who may have considered pursuing a traditional education are instead going into the trades.

Locally, apprenticeship programs are popular among those going into professions like tattoo artistry. Apprentices see these programs as alternatives to the cost burden of college while also living a fulfilling life doing what they enjoy.

However, depending on the specific programs, risk factors can look incredibly different based on the financial requirements for participation and job availability projections based on employment trends.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of U.S. farms is slowly declining. With that, so is the number of successful farmers who try to start their own operations.

Starting a farming operation is getting harder, and that has been the case for years.

Local farmers talk about the challenges associated with rising rent costs and buying land outright, which is becoming an impossibility for younger farmers without exorbitant amounts of borrowed capital.

To illustrate this, the average value per acre of farmland in Iowa has risen 1.8 percent since 2020, according to the USDA. This trend will continue, and land will only become more costly.

So, to see success, and if farmers want to try their hand in a highly volatile industry, they need two things: a passion for what they do and, increasingly, a college education that is often associated with debt.

For young farmer Kyle Doty and other farmers, a college education is something necessary to fall back on if working with their family operation does not pan out. Based in Poweshiek County but farming land in Iowa County, Doty said he was lucky to start farming with an established family operation.

“The biggest thing with how I got into farming was that the opportunity was there to do it,” Doty said. “Very few kids have a situation where a father already has an established operation.”

He said he is doubtful that, in today’s world, anyone could begin farming without working for someone else in an existing operation, as he did.

“The buy-in cost for farming is insane,” he said. “Equipment is more expensive than ever, and you would have to take out a hefty loan just to get started.”

So, Doty, like others, chose to pursue a degree in animal ecology. He originally wanted to farm out of high school but decided to pursue a degree to better arm himself for future endeavors.

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Another element of farming Doty highlights is an almost hidden rural community.

“If you’re starting off on your own, and you don’t have acres to farm, it’s impossible for farmers to go out and buy land,” he said. “Then, you need to rent, and you usually need connections to get rent.”

Doty said connections his family has made to get good land to farm on have been found in places like church, which is a strong place of community in rural areas.

“When ground goes up for rent, they know who they’re renting it out to,” Doty said.

Mike Hammes, a 31-year-old Linn County farmer, said he went to Kirkwood Community College and later entered a four-year degree program at Iowa State University for agricultural business. Leaving high school, Hammes said he knew he would end up farming, but taking on the cost of college was worth it to him to build relationships with other young farmers.

He shared Doty’s sentiment and said agriculture is an interconnected community.

“If somebody [in the rural community] is not a farmer, they could be working at a co-op,” he said. “It’s hard to get away from ag in Iowa; it’s a pretty tight-knit community of people.”

Hammes started working on his family farm and is thankful he received guidance from his family. To him, legacy is an important factor. Working with family, carrying on a legacy, and cultivating a crop are all rewarding elements of the job.

To Hammes, college also offered him a fresh perspective. Agriculture has historically been a family-oriented business, and he said fresh perspectives can make some things easier to learn.

On the issue of land value, Johnson County farmer Rick Kasper said land value has not been affordable for almost 30 years.

The 1980s saw a farm crisis that made it harder for farmers to sell commodities and rent land. It was the hardest point of financial toughness in agriculture since the Great Depression.

Kasper said the 1990s was the last point in recent history at which land value had recovered.

It was feasible for a new operation to begin by buying or even renting land, and it was also beneficial for him that he could join a family operation.

“It’s harder for a young person to get started,” he said. “I wouldn’t be farming if it weren’t for my dad.”

Despite the tough market farmers face in the modern day, Doty is coming along well.

He has a passion for the industry, he said. Specifically, he has an appreciation for the land itself, including its care, maintenance, use, and preservation for coming generations.

“The land has been here forever,” he said. “I’m in the world now, and it’s my turn. Many people have cared for the land, and I take pride in being the one who cares for it now.”

As the number of farms drops and consolidates, it is passion and family that keep these operations alive.