Shawna M. York '19

Grand Island, Nebraska

Real Estate Appraiser | Organizational Communication

They go out of their way to make sure you have what you need. I just wish I had known about it a long time ago.

Shawna York tried to go back to college once before. She enrolled in the local community college and quickly discovered there was no way the traditional schedule would work for her.

“Their setup is semester based; your classes are a few days a week instead of one night a week,” she says. “You have a lot more to do and a lot more projects. A lot more reading and that kind of thing.”

Shawna finished her associate’s and wanted to earn a bachelor’s degree from a four-year school. She was a single mother working full time and found this schedule impossible to fit into her routine.

“I couldn’t travel to Kearney, so I just stopped my education there.”

Working toward state certification as a real estate appraiser, Shawna advanced as far as she could without a four-year degree, and then a former instructor told her about Doane in Grand Island.

“I wish I would have known about it sooner,” she says. “The instructors are great; it’s 8-week terms and you clip right along; it’s fast; you finish that degree pretty quick if you can go right through.”

Shawna now has her bachelor’s degree and is on her way to state certification as an appraiser.

“It’s very worth it,” she says. “They go out of their way to make sure you have what you need. I just wish I had known about it a long time ago.”