{"id":110410,"date":"2022-11-27T00:35:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T05:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=110410"},"modified":"2023-11-18T22:44:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T03:44:18","slug":"success-story-debt-free-degrees-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=110410","title":{"rendered":"Success Story: Debt-Free Degrees"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>April 22, 2015<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Nick and Kaitlyn Alpers\" class=\"AlignImageLeft\" height=\"260\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/e1d4979cc66cc78d432b9c6da3d15366nick-kaitlyn-alpers-200-2.jpg\" width=\"200\" \/>At just 21 years old, Traverse City native <strong>Nick Alpers<\/strong> has checked off a lot of life&#8217;s milestones already. He&#8217;s earned his bachelor&#8217;s degree, married, and is working full-time in his chosen field of mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n<p>The 2012 NMC graduate is unique in another way, too: Alpers, who graduated <em>summa cum laude<\/em> from Saginaw Valley State University last year, has zero student loan debt.<\/p>\n<p>Zero as in zip. Zilch. None. As in, a stark contrast to his peers. Statewide, 63 percent of Michigan&#8217;s 2013 bachelor&#8217;s graduates took on student debt, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/projectonstudentdebt.org\/state_by_state-data.php\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"(link opens new window)\">Project on Student Debt<\/a>. On average, each owes more than $29,000.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s the difference? Simply put, motivation and NMC dual enrollment.<\/p>\n<h2>Dual enrolled in 2010<\/h2>\n<p>Alpers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nmc.edu\/admissions\/high-school-services\/index.html\">dual-enrolled in NMC<\/a> as a senior at Traverse City Central, back in 2010. He took 28 credits that year, more than half of what he needed for his engineering certificate, all paid for by his high school. He attended NMC for another year and worked in the math lab before transferring to SVSU in 2012. There he completed the last two years of his bachelor&#8217;s in a year and a half. Now, his paycheck from Nexteer Automotive, a Saginaw manufacturer of steering columns and gears, belongs to just him and his wife <strong>Kaitlyn (Green) Alpers<\/strong>, a pre-physician&#8217;s assistant student at SVSU.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know that some people are in their 30s and still paying off debts. Now I can allocate that money to something else,&#8221; said Alpers.<\/p>\n<h2>Financial and academic advantages<\/h2>\n<p>Besides the financial advantage, Alpers speaks highly of NMC&#8217;s academic rigor, noting that his GPA at Saginaw Valley was higher than at NMC.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was definitely worth it. It helps you to prepare,&#8221; said Alpers, whose two older brothers also attended NMC. &#8220;I came down here and I thought (SVSU) was a breeze.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not too far down the road, the &#8220;something else&#8221; might be getting home. Kaitlyn, who also dual-enrolled at NMC for her senior year in 2011-12, has her eye on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nmc.edu\/uc\/programs\/masters\/gvsu-physician-assistant.html\">master&#8217;s PA program<\/a> that Grand Valley recently started at NMC&#8217;s University Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 22, 2015 At just 21 years old, Traverse City native Nick Alpers has checked off a lot of life&#8217;s milestones already. He&#8217;s earned his bachelor&#8217;s degree, married, and is working full-time in his chosen field of mechanical engineering. The 2012 NMC graduate is unique in another way, too: Alpers, who graduated summa cum laude [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intercom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Success Story: Debt-Free Degrees - NMC Communiqu\u00e9<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=110410\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Success Story: Debt-Free Degrees - NMC Communiqu\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April 22, 2015 At just 21 years old, Traverse City native Nick Alpers has checked off a lot of life&#8217;s milestones already. 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The 2012 NMC graduate is unique in another way, too: Alpers, who graduated summa cum laude [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=110410\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NMC Communiqu\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NorthwesternMichiganCollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-27T05:35:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-19T03:44:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/e1d4979cc66cc78d432b9c6da3d15366nick-kaitlyn-alpers-200-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cascade Server\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nmc_tc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nmc_tc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cascade Server\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/?p=110410#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/?p=110410\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cascade Server\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9a5abeb06c16cf02da6a7bd6f52328be\"},\"headline\":\"Success Story: Debt-Free Degrees\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-27T05:35:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-19T03:44:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/?p=110410\"},\"wordCount\":351,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/?p=110410#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/e1d4979cc66cc78d432b9c6da3d15366nick-kaitlyn-alpers-200-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Intercom\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/?p=110410\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.nmc.edu\\\/?p=110410\",\"name\":\"Success Story: Debt-Free Degrees - 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