USA Today February 11, 2011 Colleges embrace older students, part-timers By Melody Komyerov Some people in their 30s and 40s go to college to learn new job skills or to change careers. JoAn Blake, 42, did it to cope with an unimaginable loss. JoAn Blake lives in the house she grew up in, along with her mother and three surviving children. From left, Renecia, 16, Ryan, 16, JoAn, 42, and Charles, 19. In 1997, Blake's daughter, Shaina, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer that primarily affects children and adolescents. Shaina, then 10, wasn't expected to live six months. Instead, an experimental treatment put her cancer into remission, and Shaina went on to graduate from high school at the top of her class. In 2006, Shaina was killed in a car accident. She was a sophomore in college, studying clinical science so she could help sick children. Blake, who has three other children, decided to honor her daughter by fulfilling Shaina's goal. She enrolled at Roxbury Community College in Roxbury Crossing, Mass., with plans to earn an associate's degree. While there, she learned about a scholarship that Boston University<http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Schools/Boston+University>'s Metropolitan College offers to parents of children in Boston public schools. She applied and won the scholarship, which has allowed her to pursue a bachelor's degree in clinical science. She's scheduled to graduate with honors in May. While Blake is twice the age of the average BU graduate, it's no longer unusual to see students like her on college campuses around the country. About half of today's students are financially independent, 49% are enrolled part time, 38% work full time, and 27% have dependents of their own, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The economic downturn has generated even more interest in higher education among non-traditional students. In January, the unemployment rate for adults with a bachelor's degree or higher was 4.2%, vs. 9.4% for high school graduates with no college education. Some economists believe that due to structural changes in the economy, thousands of jobs in manufacturing and other sectors that typically didn't require a college degree will never come back. Colleges and universities are responding by expanding evening classes, developing online curriculums and offering courses at satellite locations. For example, Penn State University<http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Schools/Pennsylvania+State+University> will launch a new video learning network this fall that will allow non-traditional students to take courses at sites throughout the state in an accelerated seven-week period. The program is targeted at the nearly 2 million Pennsylvania residents who have some college credits but haven't earned a degree. Off-campus learning Without those types of innovations, it's unlikely that Colleen O'Neill Conlan, 47, would be able to earn her bachelor's degree in English. Conlan lives in Vinalhaven, Maine, an island 15 miles off the coast of Rockland. She's scheduled to graduate from the University of Maine-Augusta this spring, but until this semester, she had never set foot on campus. She's taken classes online, through interactive television courses offered at Vinalhaven's high school, and at satellite centers in Rockland. Conlan says she had always wanted to go to college, but life intervened. She got married after graduating from high school and moved to Vinalhaven with her husband, who owns a plumbing business. "Over the years I've done a lot of different jobs, and it's always been in the back of my head that I would go to college, but I live on an island," she says. Conlan was inspired to get her degree six years ago after touring colleges with her daughter, Brianna. "I thought, 'This is fantastic — what a lucky kid,' " she says. She enrolled in the University of Maine's distance-learning program the same year that Brianna, now 24, started Boston College. Dodging storms to commute to classes This semester, her curriculum has required her to travel to Augusta every Monday for a three-hour class. To get there, she leaves at 6:30 a.m. to take the 80-minute ferry ride to Rockland, then drives an hour to Augusta. The last ferry leaves before she gets back to Rockland, so she spends the night at a bed and breakfast there and returns to the island on Tuesdays. Conlan says she's fortunate that none of the monster storms that have blanketed New England this winter occurred on a Monday. On several occasions, though, her husband has had to climb to the roof to clear snow out of the satellite dish that provides Internet service to their home in Vinalhaven. Conlan will complete her degree in May, but she won't attend the graduation ceremony, because her son, Niall, will graduate from St. Joseph's College of Maine on the same day. "I'll be glad when it's behind me," says Conlan, who blogs about her experiences at threecreditsatatime.wordpress.com<http://threecreditsatatime.wordpress.com/>. "But I'll miss the classes." Paying the bill For non-traditional students with families and jobs, finding time to study and attend classes is a major challenge. Blake's children are active in sports, and she's had to miss a lot of practices and games to attend classes. "At first, it was a huge struggle," she says. "They got it when they saw my grades." But footing the bill for tuition and fees often presents an even greater hurdle for adults who are already paying a mortgage, contributing to a 401(k) plan and saving for their children's college education. Non-traditional students typically go to school part time, and many financial aid programs are restricted to full-time students, says Shawn O'Riley, executive director of University College at Adelphi University<http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Adelphi+University> in Garden City, N.Y. In addition, in the wake of the economic downturn, there's been a big drop in the number of companies that provide tuition reimbursement for their employees, he says. That means many non-traditional students must pay the entire cost of their education, which is why it often takes them several years to earn their degrees, O'Riley says. That's how Conlan handled her tuition bills. She and her husband took out a home-equity line of credit to help pay for their children's college education, and she didn't want to take on any more debt. She spread out the costs by taking one to three classes each semester. But just because you're not an 18-year-old freshman doesn't mean you can't get help. How to reduce costs: •Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. This is the form used by virtually all two- and four-year colleges, universities and career schools to award financial aid. You'll also need a FAFSA to qualify for federal student loans, which are available for both full- and part-time students. Federal student loans offer lower rates and more flexible repayment terms than private student loans. In addition, independent students are eligible to borrow more than students who are listed as dependents on their parents' tax returns. •Consider a 529 college savings plan. Many parents establish these savings plans for young children, but they can help adults pay for college, too. If you plan to attend college in a few years, a 529 plan offers a tax-advantaged way to save, because withdrawals used to pay for higher-education costs are tax-free. Many of these state-sponsored plans offer conservative portfolios that are appropriate for savers with a short-term time horizon, says Joseph Hurley, founder of SavingforCollege.com. In addition, if you decide not to go to college, you can transfer the plan to your children or other family members. Similarly, parents who find they don't need all of the money in a child's 529 plan can name themselves as beneficiaries and use the money for their own education. •Look into institutional aid. Most college and university grants and scholarships are designated for traditional students, but many schools designate money for non-traditional students. The awards are often smaller than those offered to traditional students, but non-traditional students often pay lower tuition, too, says Sean-Michael Green, dean of graduate and adult enrollment at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Blake says she never dreamed of applying to BU's Metropolitan College until she learned about the Scholarship for Parents award. "When I found out I was accepted, I was happy," she says. "When I got the scholarship, I bawled." Blake, who is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, says her experience has inspired her three children to pursue their own dreams. Charles, 19, plans to become a physical therapist. Ryan and Renecia, 16-year-old twins, want to go to law school. "To see that I, with no science background, was afforded an opportunity to go to Boston University — it gives them an injection of self-worth." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.