Financing college education in a recession

By NG’ANG’A WA MUCHIRI
Published July 14, 2009

Lolock Nyangweso

Future anesthetic nurse Lolock Nyangweso of Allentown, Pa., is used to long hours. Four days a week, he attends clinical practice at Lehigh Valley Hospital from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and still has to prepare for the next day’s classes.

On Wednesday morning, Nyangweso drives for 45 minutes to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing with a specialty in nurse anesthesia.

In the afternoon, he takes an online class, which usually lasts all afternoon long. Nyangweso also works three out of four weekends a month at St. Luke’s Hospital in Allentown to make ends meet. Nyangweso is one of many East Africans abroad, who are trying to finance an education in the middle of an economic recession.

East Africa in Focus (EAiF) recently caught up with him and others to find out how young professionals are making sure they gain new skills that will give them access to top-notch opportunities once the world economy turns around.

Nyangweso, a Kenyan is half way through his master’s program. “The total tuition costs $100, 000,” he said, adding that he also pays for school supplies out-of-pocket. For Nyangweso, who lives off-campus, balancing his monthly budget is a near-miracle. “Before we spend on anything at home, we always ask ourselves if we absolutely cannot do without it,” he said.

This way, he has been able to support himself and his niece, Gloria Nyakundi, who is taking summer classes in a nearby community college. “Summer school is another money outlet and there is no money coming in,” he said. “So far I have managed to live off the loans that I take.” This in addition to working weekends is what has kept Nyangweso and his family going while his wife, Darline, looks for a job.
“As a class, we looked at different scholarships, but they were rather limited and the amounts were small,” he said.

Nyangweso was once lucky to receive a $ 1,000 non-renewable scholarship, which offset some of his costs. His job offers a $ 5,000 tuition reimbursement which comes with a two-year conditional attachment. However, he has not taken the offer because he hopes for better deals upon graduation.

There are several things that keep Nyangweso going. “I like what I’m doing,” he said. “I enjoy it most of the time, especially at clinical trials where I interact with patients.”

Nyangweso has been a nurse for about six years and with a master’s degree, he envisions a more enjoyable and long-term career as an anesthetist.

Job satisfaction and financial gain motivated him to pursue further studies, he said.

Scholarships, though hard to come by, have enabled many young East Africans to acquire an otherwise, costly education. Zainab Nandawula and Anne Omole, second year and third year students respectively at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. can attest to this.

“I looked through brochures and chose Lafayette because of the good engineering program and their financial aid package,” Nandawula said.

Nandawula has never regretted leaving her home country Uganda to pursue further studies in the US because recession has not affected her much.

“I have not really felt the recession,” she said, adding that she only works to earn little money to buy school supplies, pay utilities and to underwrite her transportation expenses. “Maybe I’ll feel it at school when the college cuts back the number of hours I can work.”

Nandawula said some of her friends, however, have not been so fortunate. Of the 90 students who graduated from high school with her, about 30 have left Uganda to pursue further studies abroad.

“Although no one has dropped out, some have transferred to cheaper schools,” she said.

For Anne Omole, it is online search on Collegeboard.com that led her to Lafayette.

Omole knew that colleges in the US reward diversity to attract qualified students from around the globe. And in this sense, Lafayette delivered. Omole received a full scholarship to pursue a degree in chemical engineering.

“This is in contrast to other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia,” she said.

For the goal-oriented Lydiah Gathoni, an administrative assistant at Lafayette’s Office of Alumni Affairs, getting a job at an educational institution is a great way to finance one’s education.

Lydia Gathoni

“One of my main motivations to pursue a degree was for professional growth,” she said. “I wanted to grow career-wise and hopefully raise my income. I had financed my own associate degree and was eager to find external sources to fund my bachelor’s.”

In 2005, Gathoni got two job offers at New Jersey’s Domestic Rape & Crisis Center and at Lafayette College. Though the responsibilities were similar, the rape center was an environment full of pain. On the other hand, the job at Lafayette was paying significantly less. “I chose the Lafayette job and one of the benefits was tuition reimbursement,” she said. “The college had an open-door policy where anyone, including part-time workers, took classes via the Lehigh valley Association of Independent Colleges [with] no strings attached.”

Gathoni took advantage of the opportunity and enrolled for classes at Muhlenberg College in Allentown and graduated cum laude.

“It has been worth it,” she said. “All I worried about were books. Unlike my American classmates, I did not graduate with loans.”

Gathoni recommends that students do careful research to find opportunities before enrolling for college.

“One must persist and go for it, most colleges have such [tuition] benefits and one must fight for them,” she said.

After graduating six months ahead of schedule in December last year with a degree in business administration and a minor in political science, Gathoni is now ready for the next big move.

“I would love to try my hand at being a project manager, for a non-governmental organization,” she said. “Of course the current economic crisis limits my options, but I intend to be very creative in searching for opportunities.”

Indeed, creativity is key to future success. For Elyas Gebrehiwot, an Ethiopian student attending School of Visual Art in New York City, creativity meant looking further than well-known schools.

“I am taking a summer course at SVA (School of Visual Arts), a small but a vibrant school in New York City. I am enrolled in their continuing education program studying screenwriting, taught by a playwright, director and screenwriter,” he said.

Gebrehiwot is proud he chose a SVA over famous New York schools such as Columbia University and New York University.

“I think schools like Columbia and NYU cost a lot more. Of course the bigger the school, the more opportunities and networking, but sometimes the smaller the place the better, especially for new comers….” he said. “The course [at School of Visual Art] has given me the opportunity to connect with likeminded individuals from across the world. Some are professionals in the film industry and some are beginners like me.

For these young East Africans, education holds the key to a brighter future and must be pursued, no matter the sacrifice.

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