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