This content was published: July 25, 1996. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Emergency Student Loans Make the Difference
Photos and Story by Susan Hereford
by Susan Hereford
Cathy McNeill, a PCC student and single mother of three, was desperate.
"I had no money at all," she said. "My financial aid did not come in, my bills were due and I was literally running out of everything. I really didn’t even have money for food."
With seven months to complete her degree, she needed help now, and got it – the same day she asked for it. No committees, no red tape, no lengthy approval process. McNeill called it "instant help."
"It’s nice to know it’s there. It definitely pulled me out," she said.
The instant help came from the Kurt Schlesinger Student Emergency Loan Fund. McNeill was one of 39 students who received a loan last year.
Child care bills get paid, cars get repaired, rent is paid, books bought, even baby formula purchased with money from the fund. The help has kept students in school, bootstrapping them through financial crisis.
The fund got its start from the volunteer work of a rather remarkable man. Kurt Schlesinger was a prominent attorney in Berlin, Germany. By 1940, after months in hiding from the Nazis, he was an immigrant who felt lucky to be alive in Portland. Like most Jewish refugees who escaped the Nazis, he had no money and no job.
After working in gas stations, grocery stores and later for the state of Oregon, Schlesinger managed to save enough to attend Lewis and Clark College and earn at age 60 an American law degree and become a practicing attorney.
One day in 1970 he walked into the offices of Amo De Bernardis, PCC president and founding father, to volunteer as a legal advisor to students.
For 14 years, two times a week until his death in 1984, Schlesinger counseled students on problems ranging from traffic citations to drug charges to divorce. He even motivated several students to become attorneys. And if he couldn’t help them, he networked with other lawyers who would freely give their advice.
Schlesinger’s daughter, Jane Rosenbaum said, "My father believed in the mission of the community college and felt that these are students who have a passion for learning, but often have little funds available."
The school offered to pay Schlesinger for his services, but he requested they establish the fund instead. It was set up in the form of a loan to be repaid – making the fund continuously available.
Close to 90 percent of all loans are repaid. "I don’t know of another (student) loan program that has this record," said Craig Bell, dean of students at PCC’s Sylvania Campus and fund administrator.
"Often, our students are functioning so close to the edge," he added. "Literally anything can tip them over. This fund enables them to overcome the unforeseen emergency so they can continue their education."
Hundreds of students have received help from the Kurt Schlesinger Student Emergency Loan Fund over the years with loans ranging in amounts from $50 to $250. Rosembaum wants to help more students and increase the loan amount.
One person in the right place at the right time can make such a difference. Ask PCC student Cathy McNeill.
If you would like to contribute to this emergency loan fund to help Sylvania Campus students stay in school, please contact Craig Bell at the Sylvania Campus, 977-4532.