Earning a Master’s Degree ‘Improved Our Lives Immensely’
| by Hannah Sparling
Cole Cooper stared at the HR business manager. She was telling him his new salary, now that he’d earned his master’s degree, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
All told, it was about $17,000 more a year.
“And I’m sitting there looking at her like, ‘What? Are you kidding?’” he said. “Why didn’t I get my master’s right off the bat? I could have made a lot more money.”
Because of his master’s degree, Cooper was able to get his first job in administration.
He learned new skills that make him a better educator and a better leader.
He makes enough extra for his wife to stay home with their 2-year-old son for as long as she chooses.
“Now my son, he’ll see the importance of education as well,” Cooper said. “Because, you know, Daddy has a master’s. And hopefully Mommy will get a master’s someday. It’s improved our lives immensely.”

A Winding Path to Education
Cooper earned his Master’s in Educational Leadership from Moreland University in July 2023.
Before that, he was a 2019 graduate of Moreland’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program.
And before that, he was a struggling student who barely made it through grade school and flunked out of college the first time around. School never came easy, he said. He tested high enough that he didn’t qualify for extra support, but he wasn’t able to keep up on his own. And he was too embarrassed to ask for help.
With Moreland, for the first time in his life, he thrived in the classroom. He liked the flexibility, the freedom to study on his schedule, from his own home. But at the same time, he said, his instructors were accessible and responsive whenever he had questions.
And he especially liked learning with his cohort, which included teaching candidates from the U.S., Africa, England, China, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil, ranging in age from 20-something to 60.
That’s why, once Cooper decided he wanted to earn his master’s degree, he went straight to Moreland again.
“It was such an amazing experience for me,” he said. “You could see how education works around the world, and it opened my eyes to a whole new way of teaching people and using technology.
“I am truly blessed, and I can thank Moreland for that, for giving me an opportunity to get my master’s to better my life and my family’s life.”
Positioned for Career Growth
Today, Cooper is the athletic director and a PE teacher for Griswold Community School District in Iowa. When he was job hunting, he had five or six offers on the table, he said, a fact he attributes in part to the M.Ed. at the end of his name.
“Because they know you’ve put in the work,” he said. “They know you are committed to bettering yourself.”
Cooper will tell any teacher who asks — and some who don’t ask — that they should earn their master’s degree and consider Moreland University. It’s about more than the money, he said. It’s about opportunity and positioning yourself to grow.
As for his own career, he tries to be the kind of educator he needed when he was a kid. His struggles, difficult as they were, make him more empathetic.
“I tell the kids my story,” he said. “I’ve been in your shoes. I’m not going to say I know exactly what you’re going through right now, but I have been your age, and I know what it’s like to feel not wanted, to feel dumb, to feel not included.”
Eventually, Cooper would like to become a building principal. Or maybe even a superintendent if the opportunity presents itself.
He’s just waiting for Moreland to add a doctorate program so he can be the first to enroll.
Earn your master’s degree from Moreland University, along with your teaching certificate, in as little as 12 months. Choose from specializations in early childhood, special education, teaching multilingual learners, and more.