Student Stories
Laura Dague
Washington, Kan.
2007 graduate in economics
“I wouldn’t have gone to KU if I hadn’t gotten all the of scholarships that I did — I just couldn’t imagine that.”
Through research for her honors thesis, Dague shed light on childhood poverty.
In spring 2007, she presented her thesis, “Impact of Four Labor Market Measures on Child Poverty Rates in the United States,” at KU’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Among her findings: That recent economic growth has not provided relief for children in poverty.
“I wanted to focus on child poverty specifically because child poverty rates in the United States are significantly higher than those for any other age group,” Dague said. “It is sad because poverty is out of a child’s control.”
Scholarships helped Dague dig into academics: “My KU Endowment scholarships enabled me to devote a lot of time to my education and to my research thesis.”
At KU, she received support from eight different scholarship funds, primarily the Farel R. Lobaugh Memorial Scholarship Fund, established in 1976. Lobaugh, an attorney from Dague’s hometown, wanted the fund to help KU students from Washington County, Kan.
A 2007 graduate, Dague began graduate studies in fall 2007 in economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She plans on a career in academia.