On any given brisk fall day around the UW – Madison, you’re likely to see the campus teeming with so-called traditional students: students in their upper teens or lower twenties, laughing with friends as they walk to class or running to catch the bus or sipping on coffee while they study. Nothing about those students is out of the ordinary—they fulfill our traditional definition of “college student” and they no doubt belong at the University. When we see somebody walking down University Ave pushing a stroller and wearing a backpack, however, we start to feel a bit uncomfortable. A student who is a parent is dissonant with our accepted definition. The same thing happens when we are sitting in class and a middle-aged student raises their hand to ask a question. The people who complicate our understanding of “college student,” in the aforementioned and other ways, are specifically known as non-traditional students.
Just to be clear, a traditional student generally fits three criteria: (1) they start going to college straight after high school; (2) they do not work a full time job (considered 35 or more hours per week); and (3) they are financially dependent on their parents (Nontraditional Undergraduates/Definitions and Data). This type of student makes up 96% of UW – Madison’s undergraduate population (Simmons) so it isn’t really surprising that most of them seem to be confused about what a non-traditional student is. When I asked a traditional student, Mike Grunst, what he thought a non-traditional college student was, he told me that it was a student who didn’t care about their grades and probably did not get a very good education; his friend Tyler agreed, adding that they probably just took online classes so they could stay at home. Overall, both of them seemed to think very poorly of so-called “non-traditional college students,” which was troubling, but not very unexpected.
There is actually a lot of discrepancy about what actually qualifies someone as a non-traditional student. Basically, it seems like if you’re not a traditional student, you’re non-traditional. This includes students who: are older than 24 or delay college after high school by at least one year; work full time; are financially independent from their parents; are married; have children; attend school only part-time; or live relatively far from campus, with the most recognized conditions being the ones about age and having children (Nontraditional Undergraduates/Definitions and Data). None of those criteria points to students who get bad grades or go to online schools, and yet this is the definition that is perpetuated around a very traditional campus. Though the actual number varies from source to source, it seems that non-traditional students are currently making up around half of the undergraduate population in schools nationwide (Bell). Yet, they make up on 4% of the undergraduate population at the UW – Madison. The education offered at the University is first-rate; both traditional students and non-traditional students would benefit from the presence of more atypical students. So why does the University have such a low population of these students? Traditional universities can make it difficult to succeed for non-traditional students seeking a quality education, and they often perpetuate negative judgments about these students that complicate our view on what education should look like.
Traditional universities often make the mistake of assuming that the biggest responsibilities and concerns in a student’s life include their schoolwork and their social life—and that’s about it. Non-traditional students, on the other hand, may have a variety of other responsibilities that are equal in importance to their education or even surpass the importance of their education. School will always come second to a student who is also a parent, for example—providing for their child clearly takes precedence. Consider, for example, Melissa Guth, a 33-year-old sophomore at the UW who has eight children, ranging in age from 16 to 1 years of age. She was already married and had had her first child by the time she graduated high school, and so she immediately entered the workforce to support her family. When she was pregnant with Eirinn (now 2), Melissa had some complications that required her to be on bed rest and ultimately led her employers to let her go. Her second husband, Steve, was instrumental in convincing her to go back to school at that point.Melissa is lucky because she has a supportive husband and family (her parents watch her two youngest children while she is in school); she does not currently work while she in school and therefore relies on their help to be successful. Being a mother to eight, however, is more than a full time job. Melissa says that her professors and TAs are very understanding; even so, it isn’t easy to be a non-traditional student. She says, “I have obstacles in my life that “traditional” students do not have, such as children with special needs that I have had to miss a class or two for, or the occasional stomach virus that circulates through our family, or when my 1 hour commute turns into 2 hours because of an unexpected snow storm.” Her daily routine is jam-packed with family responsibilities and school responsibilities; on a good day, she is in bed by 11:30, only to wake up at 6 the next morning to do it all again. She has had to make some sacrifices—“I don’t get to be the mom who is always doing crafts I found on Pinterest or baking cakes and cookies. Right now, I don’t have time to volunteer for the PTO or be my daughter’s Daisy leader.”—but she ultimately knows that she deserves the education and that it will benefit her family.
Kelsi Winter is another non-traditional student attending UW – Madison; her goal is to become a teacher. At 23 years of age, Kelsi is in her 6th year of school and is a single mom to atwo-year old. Being on her own means that she has to work while she’s in school to be able to provide for herself and her daughter. This semester, she is taking 13 credits, on top of two jobs. She says, “I spend every second of down time working on homework. After school and work I'm usually very tired; coffee is my BEST friend.”
These two students have had very different experiences with UW – Madison so far. Melissa says that most of her professors have been very accommodating; her main struggle regarding school is finding more ways to be involved outside of the classroom. Her family commitments, as well as living an hour away from campus, make it pretty difficult to get involved in student organizations. A lot of UW programs strongly suggest (read, “require”) well-rounded resumes. I myself actually steered away from my goal of getting into the school of pharmacy because I knew that the selection process was very competitive; the typical applicant had X amount of volunteer hours, X amount of leadership positions, was involved in X amount of organizations, and so on. Living off campus and working around 30 hours a week, my “free” time is spent doing homework and studying, or trying to find time to spend with my family. My adviser actually told me that I should aim to only work 10 – 15 hours a week; she did not, however, tell me how I was supposed to pay for my education, along with my living expenses, on 15 hours of work a week. As a financially independent 20-year old, it is hard enough trying to make my way, even working as much as I already do. I knew if I tried becoming more involved in campus, I would be spreading myself too thin, and would have to sacrifice either study time or work time—and I am not really in a position to do either.
Kelsi, actually, has had a predominantly negative experience at the University. She says that when her professors or TAs find out about her situation, they either take it easy on her or look down on her because they think she shouldn’t be taking classes at the UW. She says, “Uponarrival to the University I was not greeted with open arms, because of my status as a single mother. Actually, one of the advisors in the School of Ed told me that "UW wasn't a place for people like me" and that I should "go back to Edgewood if I wanted to be successful".” Also, “It wasn't until my second year here that I found out about the resources the school offers for parents who are full time students.” And none of her advisers or any of the staff led her to those resources—she found it herself, while doing a research project. Despite the discouraging words from her adviser, Kelsi made it into the education program, and from her research she was able to get a grant from CCTAP that helps her pay for daycare.
The University clearly has some things they can work on to make things more accommodating for its students. First and foremost, University staff should be educated enough that they can provide information on a variety of programs to any struggling student; this would benefit all students, not just non-traditional students. The UW does have an Adult Career and Special Student Services (ACSSS) department which provides information about services for non-traditional students and offers advising for these students. However, I only know about this from doing my own research, just like Kelsi. None of my advisers have pointed me in directions that could help me out, financially, and I don’t know if it’s because they don’t know about the programs or just do not care about students’ personal struggles. Kelsi expressed that University staff should know enough about these programs to help students achieve the education they want and deserve, and I feel like we can all agree with that. We, as students, all want to succeed, and it is the job of advisers to help set us up for that success.
Aside from making information more available to non-traditional (and all) students, there are a lot of other things that can be done to accommodate and encourage the enrollment of non-traditional students. A very interesting article by a long-time professor Rob Jenkins suggests anumber of ways professors can design their courses in order to appeal to those who are quickly becoming the “new” traditional student. He says that professors need to realize and understand the obstacles that non-traditional students must overcome and plan their courses accordingly; strict attendance policies, for example, won’t work. He says, “[Non-traditional students] struggle with bus schedules, child-care issues, and constantly shifting demands at work. Penalizing them for being late or absent, the same way you might penalize a traditional student who stayed out drinking with his buddies or just slept in, doesn't strike me as either fair or productive.” Strict rules like that will only discourage non-traditional students from going back to school. Jenkins also says that professors can create a lesser financial burden by having inexpensive course packets (if you can place a text online, do not require students to buy the book, etc.). In addition to that, professors should demonstrate real-life relevance to the things they’re teaching about. When a non-traditional student is sacrificing time at work or time with their family to be in class, they want to be sure that they made a decent trade-off between the education and the time, effort, and the money they invested. Professors should remember that, unlike most traditional-students, non-traditional students’ education has come out of their own pockets, and they need to feel like it is worth the money. Probably the most important change professors can make in the classroom is to engage non-traditional students in conversation with traditionals—there is so much they can learn from each other. Non-traditional students have a lot of life experience that can shed light on a situation and make it easier for everybody to understand; traditional students can help non-traditional students learn good study-skills, which would be extremely helpful to adults who have been out of school for years.
Forcing traditional students to work with non-traditional students would also be very effective in removing or decreasing the negative connotations associated with adult students andother non-traditionals. While researching this topic, I came across numerous message boards complaining about non-traditional students, saying that they made too many comments in class, asked too many questions, gave too many personal anecdotes and so on. Non-traditional students would respond to these posts, conceding that yeah, they talked a lot, but it was only because so many of the other students were too checked out—busy texting, or checking Facebook—to participate. Instead of criticizing non-traditional students for truly engaging in their classes, traditional students should take a cue from them. The thing is, non-traditional students really care about their education—they aren’t there because someone is pressuring them, or because it’s expected of them—they are there because they want to be there. By asking questions and relating it to their own life experiences, they are trying to get a really good grasp on the material. If all students were that committed to their education, I am sure we would all be doing a lot better in our classes.
Having negative connotations is really unhelpful to all students. Non-traditional students clearly would not feel welcomed at universities where these thoughts are perpetuated. But traditional students are also affected. When we think about non-traditional students as not belonging to the university, traditional students end up believing that there is a specific time-frame for their education, and if something happened in their lives that required them to take some time off school, they would be really apprehensive about ever going back to school. When it comes to education, we should never try to be exclusive about who “deserves” an education—anyone willing to learn deserves an education, and we all need to realize that learning is a life-long journey. Somebody’s age or financial or familial status should not determine whether or not they deserve an education, their ability to get a degree, and ultimately their career. In fact, I believe that people who overcome those obstacles—the non-traditional students—deserve a lot of respect. The commitment of people like Kelsi Winter and Melissa Guth, and the struggles they overcome every day, is truly remarkable and inspiring; from them, “traditional” students can definitely learn a thing or two. In the words of Melissa Guth, “As an adult student, not only am I able to benefit from my experiences…but I am also able to see just how fortunate I am to be getting such a world-class education. I think my peers of a younger age take for granted where they are going to school. To me, it is such a gift. One that I never thought was a possibility for me.”
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