Plan offers education to
older students
By Megan Finnerty
Features
Editor
When Laura Robinson, 31, a junior in the School
of Liberal Arts, attended college for the first time, she had every
intention of completing her degree in photography.
But when she became pregnant with her daughter,
now 9, she withdrew from Indiana State.
Now, 11 years later, Robinson is returning to college,
with several transfer credits, to finish her studies. Monday was her
first day back as a non-traditional student.
Non-traditional students are anyone older than
24, as well as students with families, people who have been out of college
for a long time, etc., according to Jenny Cornell, the secretary for
Span Plan.
Span Plan is a campus office dedicated to easing
the transition between family and work life to academic life for non-traditional
students, a group that represents 8.6 percent of Purdue's undergraduates.
Robinson is nervous about keeping up academically
and getting good grades.
"The thing that I really have to balance is that
I have all my homework done so I can go up for parent teacher conferences
or basketball games," Robinson said.
"I have a boyfriend who really encouraged me to
get out of my dead-end job and go back. I really don't think I would've
done it if I hadn't had the support and someone telling me I could make
it."
Robinson's trepidation is typical of many non-traditional
students.
Dorothy Hughes, a Span Plan counselor, said these
students often lack confidence in their ability to excel as well as
knowledge of the higher education system.
"Adult students have fears of academic failure
which are much more magnified because they're balancing many other life
roles such as mother, father, employee and community member," Hughes
said.
Vicki Koch, 33, a freshman in the School of Liberal
Arts, is also worried about keeping up with her classes.
When she graduated from high school, Koch didn't
attend college because she didn't have the money.
"I just started working and I kept on working,"
she said. "Since I've been working at the hospital, they've been giving
me a shove. They said they needed someone to speak Spanish and I thought,
'Well this is the opportunity for me to get my foot in the door.'"
Eventually, she'd like to get her nursing degree
if her Spanish classes go well.
James Bower, 51, an area businessman and a freshman
in the School of Liberal Arts, is returning to college after 20 years.
He's studying Brazilian Portuguese to help with a new business he's
started.
"By learning this new language, it opens up a whole
potential world of language, communication and insight," he said.
Bower was impressed with the sincerity of the Span
Plan organizers during the group's two-hour orientation, held while
other freshmen were attending the huge Boiler Gold Rush week. He said
the support he feels in academia is quite unlike the competitive pressures
of the business world.
"There's no question in my mind that if I go to
these people, they'll be able to help me with any problems. My world
is so hard-nosed and rough. This is almost the opposite because everyone
here wants to see you succeed."
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