In just 6 days, I will graduate with a master's degree in mass communications from a great university, not necessarily a well-known school, but one that ranks extremely high in every important poll because it provides an outstanding education at a reasonable price in an ideal setting. I packed up my life and relocated to a rural college town because of a dedicated, brilliant professor who took the time to recruit me back to school after a 29-year absence. It took nearly three years and a whole lot of talking, but that professor never gave up, and here I am to blog about what it means to be a non-traditional student.
I mention all this so you can understand how much I adore my university. But, my soon-to-be alma mater, like most universities in the U.S., provides little support specifically for non-traditional students. It's a bit like being seduced and then dumped ...into an environment you're not quite ready for.
My non-traditional peers manage multiple jobs, babies, family obligations - and school - yet they have little in the way of added support. If today's colleges really do hope to increase enrollments, then certainly, a significant number of new students could - and should - be non-traditional. Non-trads make up a significant percentage of graduate school enrollments everywhere. Still, the largely untapped potential student base offers big numbers of students - if they find the special support they will need.
Here's what Colleges and Universities should be doing to attract more non-traditional students:
1. Help them find one another. The main drawback to being a "different" kind of student on a standard campus is feeling isolated or out-of-place. Non-traditionals can easily provide moral and other kinds of support to one another - that is, if they can find each another. Don't them be lost in the shuffle.
At the beginning of each academic year, many universities make tremendous effort to welcome and acclimate incoming freshmen. Why? Because they need the extra support and increases the numbers who stay in school. The traditional freshmen orientations exclude (and possibly even ostracize) non-traditional students, many of whom are also new. Wouldn't it be easy and cost-effective to organize non-traditional events at the start of the academic year? This would allow fellow non-traditionals to meet, greet and connect.
2. Create contact lists and share them. Invite everyone to join an on-line Facebook group or start a Wiki or some other on-line community so non-trads can discuss common challenges...anything to allow them to feel connected to their campus communities. This is how clubs, support and study groups for non-traditionals could naturally form. How about a group just for working parents, study groups based on academic focus, or a grad students-only group to support research projects? Non-trads need to share their ideas on time management with peers who are also working full-time jobs and managing classroom assignments - among other things.
3. Provide Child Care. I have been unique even among the non-traditionals in grad school, because unlike most, I don't have a family. As challenging as going back to school has been while working both full and part-time jobs, I cannot imagine how hard it must be to also care for young children and still succeed in school. Every major university has an Education Department filled with students learning about elementary education. Why not enlist interns or GAs as student volunteers? These students want and need to learn about child care and classroom management. They could offer three to four hours of child care in the late afternoons/early evenings on weekdays when most non-traditionals are on campus to attend classes. Perhaps, if such services were offered, more potential students could pursue degrees.
4. Provide Tech Support. The Internet, on-line registration, university Libraries, Blackboard....all of these seem familiar and easy to many younger students who grew up in the computer and information age, but that's not always the case with non-traditional (OK, older) students. Offer computer counseling or a dedicated Help Desk (IT) person, something to bring the uninitiated into the digital age - technologically. They might even be helped by a few simple web-based tutorials (as long as these don't patronize or condescend).
5. Create a Community. One of my university's best-kept secrets is an obscure non-traditional student's lounge created years ago so commuters could have a place to hang out between classes. It is generally empty. It is not publicized to the students it was created for, and it's not what they need or want. There are always great places to hang out between classes - the quad, the coffee shops, any student lounge, and of course, the library. What some non-traditionals lack is a sense of engagement as part of the campus community. What they need are core services that make completing classwork feasible within the confines of busy schedules - days crammed with many other responsibilities.
Please don't get me wrong. Being a non-traditional college student has been invigorating, often exciting, and always highly motivating. I have felt more alive and connected to the world and its infinite possibilities. Going back to school immersed me in learning, surrounded me with youthful thinking, and brought me up-to-date on changes within my industry of choice. It exposed me to new technologies, vital information and innovative critical thinking.
There is so much wisdom and knowledge to be gained the second time around. Yes, it can sometimes be difficult. By blogging about the challenges facing today's non-traditional students, I hope to plant the seeds of change. Given the state of the economy, there has never been a better time to pursue an advanced degree or complete an undergraduate degree.
- "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
- - W. B. Yeats
Great ideas in this one, too. I hope some colegiate administratorws are tuning in to you.
Posted by: Kenneth | December 12, 2009 at 01:18 PM
-Thanks, Darlene. Your comment gives me even more hope. The second time around was definitely a better scholastic experience. Non-traditional students are better students because they really want to be there. Here's hoping we never stop learning!
Posted by: Elizabeth Thomas | December 07, 2009 at 08:05 PM
WTG my friend, I went back to college when I was in my late 50's and had the best time of my life. In high school I would just stair out the window in class, I was lucky to get a C or D. I thought all these years I must be below adverage in my thoughts. But, when I went back to college, I was succeeding and loving it, every class was an A. I adored the proffessors and the young folks. I even signed up for having a forgein exchange student. Eri, from Japan was living in my house and we studied all the time and love it. Learning became a passion. I love your article, and I am proud of you for going back to school, and what great stories you will someday tell your grandchildren.
Posted by: Darlene Sabella | December 07, 2009 at 05:50 PM