The Iowa State University Student Government helps pay for its distribution on campus.

In 2017, the Daily moved from publishing in print once a week during the summer to solely digital content.

[2] Lawrence Cunningham was hired in July 2014[3] as the general manager, overseeing the organization's advertising department.

Following Laura Widmer's resignation as the organization's CEO in November 2014, the Iowa State Daily Publication Board named Cunningham as her replacement in December 2014.

The publication led the way for the Iowa Agricultural College Student, which formally launched on August 7, 1890.

We shall not attempt to run scientific or literary magazine, and we doubt if there is a demand for our ideas on politics and religion.

It is our object to create a genuine college newspaper, one free from all alliances, and in this work we invite all the friends of the institute to help us.

"The Iowa Agricultural College Student was a bi-weekly newspaper until 1894, when it began publishing on a weekly basis at the cost of about 5 to 10 cents per issue.

During the newspaper's first 25 years it began to make a transition from personal and editorial-based stories to more news stories such as the assassination of President William McKinley, the fire that burnt down the Old Main Building, and the death of the college's former president William M. Beardshear.

The construction of the Memorial Union, the addition of new bells at the Campanile, the first VEISHEA celebrations, and the shocking death of football player Jack Trice were heavily covered.

After the war, the newspaper began to publish stories for a wider audience, and not just for the students of Iowa State.

In the Spring 2017 semester the Daily began publishing an e-newsletter to all 36,000 plus students at the University.