Keep the student loan door open

By Susan Spivey

The day after she graduated with an associate of applied science degree, Cedar Rapids resident Larissa Norris was the subject of an inspirational feature story in The Gazette. The journey that Larissa had taken - through depression, trouble in school, brushes with the law and years of difficulty finding and holding jobs - is a compelling one, indeed.

Norris' story has a real-life happy ending, too. After reading the story, a manager at the Willis Dady Emergency Shelter in Cedar Rapids contacted Norris about a position working at the shelter. The manager felt that Norris' degree in criminal justice, combined with her triumphant life experience, would make her a good fit for the job. Today, Norris is a community resource coordinator at Willis Dady and she is also a resident attendant at the Community Corrections Improvement Association.

If you ask Norris what made the difference between succumbing to the sometimes-overwhelming challenges of depression and achieving her dreams of a new, meaningful career, she will tell you that her education was the critical factor. In particular, Norris credits her college - Kaplan University in Cedar Rapids - and the instructors who kept her motivated even when her depression threatened to derail her academic plans.

At a time when good news is hard to find, wouldn't we all like to see or experience more stories like Norris'?

Unfortunately, if the U.S. Department of Education goes through with some big changes to its regulations, stories like Norris' might not have such a happy ending.

By changing the regulations governing student loan eligibility, the Education Department might cut off federal loans for students who want to attend private-sector, career-focused colleges like Kaplan.

Education Department officials argue that students who attend private-sector schools do not have the immediate post-graduation earning potential to make a government loan a worthwhile risk. These officials feel much more confident about loans to more “traditional” college students - young people fresh out of high school who are attending public and non-profit schools and still are financially dependent on their parents. Those students, officials indicate, are a better risk for loan dollars.

How disheartening this must be to working adults like Norris, who aspire to enroll at a school with the ability to help them with the unique challenges that come with going to college at an older age - like fitting classes around work schedules and homework around time with spouses and children.

Changing loan eligibility for a group of students that can benefit so much from student loans seems bluntly unfair but also shortsighted. Graduates of schools like Kaplan dramatically improve their earning ability over the long term even if their salaries immediately upon graduation are not always as high as students who have graduated from public and non-profit colleges and universities.

Stories like Norris' are, to me, proof positive that loans for adult students are an outstanding investment. The ability to enroll at Kaplan was made possible for Norris by student loans, and look at the result: She has not only succeeded in improving her life, she is now actively working to improve the lives of others through her career.

Qualifying for a student loan is like having a friend hold the door open for you until you are able to reach out and push it open yourself. Whether that door leads into a traditional university lecture hall or a career-focused laboratory environment shouldn't matter.

I hope that Education Department officials in Washington take the time to learn about amazing people from places like Cedar Rapids before making their decision about shutting the door on their education.

Susan Spivey is president of Kaplan University in Cedar Rapids. Comments: sspivey@kaplan.edu