My Experiences as a Nontraditional Student

I decided to return to school after 20 years and three children because a divorce changed the course of my life. I was faced with supporting myself as well as three children. Working was a necessity; but, at the same time, I wanted to work at something that would be of service to others. I was also eager to get back into the mainstream of education and see what I had missed.

Having made the decision, I gingerly waded into the state university system with many doubts about my ability to keep up with students who had just graduated from high school. I began my journey with two courses at a two-year center and eventually became a full-time student. To my surprise, I found that there were others like me who had the same doubts and goals. Some of them accompanied me throughout much of my journey. I was also forever grateful to a center system that supported and nourished its nontraditional students.

Eventually I was forced to leave the now familiar campus and professors of the center system and venture onto the campus of a much larger university to complete my undergraduate degree. The first time that I stepped onto campus was overwhelming. I arrived when classrooms had dispelled their contents all over the campus. There was a virtual sea of people in the midst of which I felt very insignificant. Learning the layout of the campus and finding classrooms was daunting. As I attended classes, I again found my individual voice as well as other nontraditional students, although not as many as at the center system. Here, the traditional college students were definitely in the majority, and I found their youthful outlook invigorating.