The Homeless at College

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Drake hiked its tuition from $4,000 in 2007-2008 to $15,700 this year, which Fadel attributes to new equipment and additional staff. Borrowers who earned bachelor's degrees from for-profit colleges in 2007-2008 had a median debt of $32,653, well above the $22,375 and $17,700 for graduates of four-year private nonprofit and public colleges, respectively.

Such burdens can be difficult for homeless people who are more likely to suffer from mental illness and substance abuse than the general population. Bad credit doesn't go away easily. In the Cleveland shelters, you can still find people with trade school debts from 20 years ago. Those who don't repay their student loans may forfeit their chances for public housing and are also ineligible for federal financial aid to return to college.

"If the homeless have a bad student loan, they can't find a place to live, they can't go back to school, and in this economy there's not a lot of work," said Ardretta Jones, a case manager at Tacoma Rescue Mission in Tacoma, Wash. "That leaves a person with no options."

Because they don't have to repay their educational loans until they leave school, some homeless students spend beyond their means. Kim Rose, a recovering crack cocaine addict and ex-offender in Raleigh, N.C., began pursuing an online bachelor's degree in business last November at Capella Education's (CPLA) Capella University, based in Minneapolis. At the time she was staying in a drug-free program with Internet access. Rose, 38, receives almost $4,000 each academic quarter in federal grants and loans for tuition and living expenses. She splurged last Christmas, spending $700 of her financial aid on presents for her seven-year-old son, who has lived with his grandmother. "I got him everything he wanted," Rose said in a telephone interview. "Games, toys. He's a guitar freak, I got him a guitar. To make up for me not being there."

In February, Rose moved into a shelter where the only computer was broken. As a result, she has struggled to keep up, dropping an English composition course. Rose isn't typical of Capella students, most of whom are midcareer professionals seeking graduate degrees, says university spokeswoman Irene Silber: "We would not intentionally recruit someone who is in a life crisis, much less one as significant as homelessness."

Given the troubled pasts of some homeless students, even a college education hardly promises a well-paying job. Brenda Torchia, another recovering crack cocaine addict in Raleigh who has served several prison terms for drug offenses, was in a shelter and looking online for work when she saw an ad that asked if she wanted to further her education. She answered yes and was directed to the Web site of a for-profit school called ECPI College of Technology based in Virginia Beach, Va.

Torchia applied, passed a placement test, and started ECPI's medical administration program on Mar. 1. The 40-year-old mother of four is borrowing about half of the $23,000 tab from the federal government, with grants and scholarships paying the rest. ECPI officials are aware of her background and "guarantee me a job in the field," Torchia says. "My school is very, very supportive of me. I guess God opened up their hearts to receive me for whom I am."

Torchia's history would be a red flag for health-care employers because hospitals and clinics have drugs on site, says Susan Eget, communications director of the American Academy of Medical Administrators. While ECPI doesn't promise jobs, President Mark Dreyfus says, medical administration offers Torchia's best chance because not all employers check backgrounds and she could process records in a back office where drugs aren't accessible.

In the end, Benson Rollins didn't succumb to Phoenix's hard sell. He is taking a class for his high school equivalency degree and hopes to study law enforcement in college. For now, he would like a job so he can pay child support for his one-year-old daughter, whom he rarely sees.

The Phoenix recruiters, he says, failed to mention a critical point: He would have to take out a government loan at 5% to 7% interest to pay the $10,000-plus annual tuition. "I'm in a homeless shelter, and money is hard to come by," Rollins says. "It's not worth going to school to end up in debt."

Golden is a reporter for Bloomberg News .

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