Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1995)
College: The Choice Of A New, Older Generation In the eveningsy they hand crayons and paper to Liu, and the rest of the family sits down together to do homework. r BY SHARON UROWE ■tiro »' Rutsi \ Seimi, I'iah Si > • (’ *M »S I PH.Ji.it iM GXl’l < IIN(, rO Si i \ UVI I )!■ I Kt Mi young faces in your classes this year? Well, we’ve got news tor you the face of America’s col lege student is changing. It s growing older, with more wrinkles and responsibilities than the traditional 1<S to 2 ! -year-old has. lwetm nine vear-old j.lh Burke should know. According to the National C enter for 1 ducation Stans tics, 40 percent of today’s students are over the age ot 2-t Burke is one of them, and his second time hack, the L. ot Wyoming has lost its charm. I his time he’s all business. (totting Mrloua 1 tame to college right out of high vchool, like everybody else he saw Dunk a lot of beer and chased a lot of girls 1 just did what everybody else wav doing, except the homework Hiv grades trrvh man tear were vo low that he wav put on probation and eventually impended After loving funding for college then vowing his oats m the Navy, Hurke iv back to hitting the books av an electrical engineering maior with a lot more riding on htv studies than just finding a fulfill ing career l le has a wife and rwo soon to fse threci children to think about Katie Flvnn, S’, of the 1 of t tali, was m the same boat She vheerevi at the graduations of het husband and daughter, then devided it was her turn Hut before die could earn het anthropology degree. Flynn had venous hurdles to cleat like learning how to lie a student again 1 had Ml taken a test in 30 yean, she saw Approximately one third ot the students attend mg the 1 of l.'tah cjuahfs as nontraditional. Flynn saw As former president of the Non t raditional Student Organization, she made sure there were programs that addressed issues such as peer mentor mg and what to do when studying and attention craving 2-year-olds divide students time Flynn, who sometimes took classes with het 30 vcai-old son. feels privileged to have trad so much family support Other nontraditional students aren't so lucky, she says. Without a Mom and Dad scholarship, many older students — often alone, sometimes divorced and supporting children have to tap other sources for tuition money and basic living expenses For ihc Burkes, both full time students at the l,‘ ot Wyoming, other sources include Inc le Sam Sutc. J.D s (.1 bill helps oul. but whai really keeps them afloat is the government-provided food and child urc for their -l \ear old. I iv i heir third grader, Simon, gofi to uhool, whith trees up Mom 4ml 1 Kid to fake classes. In the evenings, 1 hcv hand crayons and paper to i iv. and the test ot (he tarn tlv sits down together to «ic» homework It may he hard to sur vivc on welfare now, hut Hurkr sees it as the govern men 1 s invest me ih in his family s future li is absolutely impera tive that you get vour degree Burke says iOth erwise). you’ll l>e an absolute dram on society, and v»u II l>e behind the eight ball I he statistics are on his side 1 he National ( enter lor l dm at ion Statistics saw that college educated men earn a yearly average of Si .000 more than those with only a high school cdu cation College educated women earn Si J,S(Kl more Changing prtorttfaM I h 1 rt> vear old John ! vlcr van sympathize He Non traditional mtucimntm balancm a lot morm than a full courts load. and rm wife, Suun, arc expecting their first bubv. which nuko hti return to college even more ncccitary h puts pressure on me to get good grade* and get through school, says ! yler. who attends Austin Community College in 1 exas Making an A in class was important to me ;before, Now I'm more interested m learning the material vo I remember it after the claw Because many draw an older clientele, commu nity colleges often have more programs to cave non traditional students into the workload A( C rcallv helps rumtradmonai students get acclimated 1 yler says He plans to earn his associ ate s degree there and then transfer to a larger, four year university nearby lisa Caiheo s story may very well be every stu dents worst nightmare Sixteen vears and five col leges after first entering the world of higher educa non. she has finally found the right school and program at James Madison l in V irginia I he twist is that the S4 year-old grad student is still living in undergraduate housing because (he university doesn't vet aside housing specifically for grad students l or both Callico and her sophomore roommate. Debra Jacob, this has been a trying semester Calh co is frustrated that Jacob likes to watch TV and lis ten to the radio while she s trying to study. Jacob feels she must ask for permission to do those things Sometimes 1 feel like I'm living with my mother," Jacob says. "I feel like I am her mother sometimes. responds (.allico Bui in the end. mothering *st> t her goal. »hc iuu a quiet plate t«» study Mut * all she docs. complains Jacob, who just wants n> return from classes to dorm sweet home l Respite her dorm room dilemma (iatiico says vhc dealt with problems similar to those of moil students choosing a major and then getting the clavvcs the needs. But Galileo handler the wkijI ucne a little d»f lerentiv from traditional students I just want to center on the classes, the \avs 1 hen maybe later 1 can meet more people Payoff tfvTM 1 ven thougfi she s had her share of setbacks. Galileo ccpcvfs to earn her masters in dietetics by fall and vav giHnlbye to tollege once and for ail l ord have mertv. I've been in school half my life she says "People ask me why I m still doing this I’ve been m school this long 1 mav as well finish.** I yier has a different reason for his return NX hen you get to be 2S or 30 and you look around and everybody (your agej lias their degrees or their own home, you want to settle down, he says ‘ NX e re going bas k to get some stability in our lives." NX hrther you re under the legal drinking age or old enough to rake calculus with your kid. college classrooms are a common ground Soon there may l»c no such thing as a "nontfaditioful student n a irnwr as fdmr SfddnoH l
