These students are in college for free under new program for lower-income Minnesotans
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The highly anticipated North Star Promise Program is in full effect this fall.
The program helps cover tuition and fees for Minnesota students with a family adjusted gross income under $80,000 who are studying at a public institution or tribal college in state. Scholarships can be applied for studies up to a four-year degree.
Students and other college access advocates had pitched the North Star Promise to the Minnesota Legislature as a way to close equity gaps in higher education, address workforce shortages across the state and reverse declining enrollment.
Already, some colleges and universities are reporting higher enrollment this fall compared to last. North Star is also making an impact on college affordability in the region.
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Nearly 17,000 students have received North Star Promise scholarships in Minnesota this fall, according to preliminary data from Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
MPR News interviewed seven Minnesotans on how the North Star program drove their decision on where — and if — to attend college this fall. Below is what they shared.
First-time college student was terrified of using loans to cover tuition
Aiden McLaney-Harris, 25
Brooklyn Park
North Hennepin Community College
Biology
Aiden McLaney-Harris had planned to attend college after high school, until serious health issues disrupted his education. He later moved to Minnesota from Pensacola, Fla., in search of greater opportunities than existed in the military town, moving with little more than a suitcase. Even with a friend’s help, it took a while to get on his feet.
“After that, it was just, ‘how can I get through and survive? How am I establishing myself as an adult before I focused on anything else?’” he said.
Student loans were a no-go — they terrified McLaney-Harris. Though he now splits bills with his fiance and sibling, all who work full time, he said they’re “still broke.”
Then he got a flyer in the mail from North Hennepin Community College promoting the North Star program. The school is a 20-minute walk from his home in Brooklyn Park. He saw he qualified and decided to enroll in a program that will allow him to transfer to Bemidji State University for a four-year degree in biology or aquatic sciences to get a dream job as a hydrologist. He currently attends school while working full time as an overnight stocker at Walmart.
“I would not have gone without the NSP. I can't afford it. My tuition is about $3,000 for 12 credit hours this semester. I don't even make that in a month,” he shared.
Stay-at-home parent finds motivation and financial support to continue her studies
Mary Laramee, 34
Ely
Southwest Minnesota State University
History
Mary Laramee studies history during the daytime while her two young children are in school. She’s in an online program from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, an otherwise 6-hour drive from her house in Ely.
Laramee had long wanted to return to college. She had completed an associate’s degree in her 20s. Then, she had taken a couple classes at a time, only what she could afford out of pocket, to avoid debt.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on school when I was still figuring it out,” she shared.
She started a program through a state university but stopped after having kids.
While she and her husband later felt the crunch to make a little more money with the additions to the family, a four-year degree seemed essential to that.
“You need it now for any sort of entry-level job,” she explained. Yet financial aid would only help cover tuition if she took a full courseload. She didn’t have the time.
The North Star’s timing was perfect. Her youngest would enter kindergarten this year. When her husband told her about the opportunity, she began researching programs she was interested in.
“I found it very motivating to actually finish my degree,” Laramee said.
Laramee said the scholarship allows her to attend school full time so she can finish faster. With a degree, she plans to work as a substitute teacher to earn extra income while still being flexible for her children’s pick-ups and sick days. As for when they’re older, a degree also keeps her foot in the proverbial workforce door, she said.
Prior student loan debt stopped him from pursuing a more fulfilling career with better pay
Niklas Gamble, 37
St. Paul
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Niklas Gamble graduated with an associate’s degree in 2011 but found himself stuck in low-paying jobs. Recruiters in his major, interactive and digital design, were looking for people with four-year degrees and more experience. His student loan debt was an obstacle to getting that, until the North Star Promise offered a path.
“It brought me back. I honestly wrote off college as an option a long time ago, just because it was completely unaffordable,” said Gamble.
“The amount that I was struggling to pay off was essentially what you’d pay for one year here,” Gamble added. “So it’s like, there’s no way I can quadruple this and still hope to pay it off.”
Gamble is concentrating in Chinese under the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies major, with the hopes of working in translating and localization editing. It’s what he originally wanted to study after high school but said his family discouraged him from pursuing.
His fiancee encouraged him to apply a year ahead of North Star’s rollout, in case the application cycle was more competitive. To start, he sacrificed sleep to attend class while working full time. With the North Star scholarship this fall, Gamble said he doesn’t have to work and can spend more time focusing on studies. He feels many things in life have changed for the better over the last year.
“I feel like I’m actually doing something more than just surviving.”
She advocated for North Star to pass, and now it paves the way for law school
Karina Villeda, 28
South St. Paul
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Political Science and Psychology
Karina Villeda grew up in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood and said most of her high school classmates did not continue to college.
“I never remembered people talking to me about college, nor did anyone really talk about college. And when the conversations came up, it was always like, ‘oh, college is really expensive. Have you seen the price of it? Honestly, only like rich white people go to college.’ So it was never really something that crossed my mind,” explained Villeda, the daughter of a Salvadoran immigrant.
Instead, Villeda started working at a casino after high school and stayed in the industry for about a decade. She swore off college because she saw many of her coworkers had degrees but were living paycheck-to-paycheck while paying back student loans. But then the COVID-19 pandemic closed her job and she became a parent. She wanted job security.
“I was thinking more of my daughter,” she said. “To be home with my daughter more, not work 40 to 50 hours a week, be with her at home during holidays … I think that when you get a college degree, you will be able to get jobs like that.”
Villeda didn’t know about financial aid and ended up taking out student loans for her first year of community college. Her second year, she made it her mission to learn more about how higher education works. That led her to join LeadMN, an advocacy nonprofit representing Minnesota’s two-year public colleges, where she helped push for the creation of the North Star Promise program.
Now, Villeda qualifies for the North Star scholarship. She had transferred to the University of Minnesota, where she hopes to attend law school, and works at an internship, fellowship and job to cover bills including for those initial student loans. She said North Star lessens the load of other costs like books and transportation, better setting her up for the future.
“This scholarship, the North Star Promise really just tells me, like, ‘go on and pursue your dreams.’”
Scholarships helped first-generation student decide to stay in state for college
Sylvia Nnadi, 18
Brooklyn Center
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Management Information Systems
“The financial aspect was definitely a priority,” said Sylvia Nnadi, explaining her college decision-making process.
Nnadi had originally planned to attend college outside Minnesota, but through research realized how expensive that can be. She applied to many scholarships and received the most value out of ones based in Minnesota, she said, including the North Star Promise program. It was one of the reasons why she decided to commit to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
After a business internship in high school, where she was in an engineering program, she decided to study Management Information Systems at the Carlson School of Management, with an interest in pursuing a job in business or tech after graduation.
She said the North Star Promise reduced her anxiety about paying for college. She also appreciates that her parents — small-business owners and immigrants from Nigeria — don’t have to worry as much about helping cover her tuition.
“They work really hard and I'm just happy that that's not another weight on their shoulders,” said Nnadi.
Single mom aims to double salary by becoming dietitian
Heather Storie, 33
Blaine
North Hennepin Community College
Dietetics
Heather Storie had first tried college at age 19. She started with an associate’s degree in massage therapy, thinking it would help her earn a decent income while she studied to become a dietitian. She said that didn’t go well. She blames the financial pressure of juggling so much at a young age, when she was also working full time and struggling with a then-undiagnosed learning disability.
That journey left her with around $40,000 in student loan debt. It took years to pay off and she felt stuck in jobs to nowhere. That shadow prevented her from returning to school as planned.
“It was really, really hard getting out of debt, and I didn't want to go back into debt,” said Storie.
When a friend shared about the North Star Promise program, it was her sign. She started her general requirements at North Hennepin Community College with plans to transfer to the University of Minnesota to study dietetics. She attends full time while working as a personal care assistant to her disabled child.
She made $20 an hour at her previous job. If she gets her master’s degree, she anticipates a starting salary of $80,000, almost doubling her earnings.
“I've been crying tears of happiness about going back to school because I've been considering it for such a long time, and this just made it that much easier,” said Storie.
North Star gives Metro State cybersecurity student ‘a sense of purpose’
Alexa Fagerness, 44
Minneapolis
Metropolitan State University
Cybersecurity
The North Star Promise program is the reason Alexa Fagerness is in college for the first time this fall.
At 43, Fagerness wants a job with a higher salary. She said she doesn’t have much in retirement savings and dreams of home improvements to her Minneapolis home like a privacy fence.
She had considered college out of high school decades ago and decided against it since she had a decent paying job then and it was expensive. A fear of student loans have kept her away since.
“I hear the horror stories, basically. Like you hear about it all the time. It can be pretty darn a lot to come out of,” she said.
Fagerness recently completed a cybersecurity training through Summit Academy OIC in north Minneapolis, which guarantees no-cost education, yet she found it hard to find a job without more credentials. Her therapist told her about the North Star program, and upon learning she met all the boxes, Fagerness decided to give it a try.
She is going to Metro State University for the combined bachelor’s and master’s degree program in cybersecurity operations, which she hopes will lead to a six-figure income. North Star only covers undergraduate studies, but Fagerness figured “the more education, the better.” She is taking classes part-time to accommodate her work schedule.
A few weeks into the semester, Fagerness said going to school has been gratifying.
“It’s given me a sense of purpose. It's like I have something to look forward to. It's given me a brighter, more optimistic look on my future,” she said.
“I feel like my future is going to be more secure, which is something that at my age, that you start worrying about, is your future. So, yeah, I feel finally that maybe I found a way to ensure that,” Fagerness added.