The Current Online

by Dan Pierce

With the recession lingering on, it is not news that many adults are returning to school for more earning potential, if not simply employment.

“There has definitely been an increase [in returning adults],” said Kelly Young, Academic Advisor at Maple Woods. According to Young, they are concerned about their study habits and their ability to keep up. ”Some feel they may be out-of-place because they are older than the other students,” she said. But how ready are these adults to return to college after many years away from school? [...]

by Antoinette Bradley

Lorrie Blake (Antoinette Bradley/The Current)

Whether it’s called The Good Center or the Re-Entry Club, Longview Campus Center room 257 has a positive effect on students.

The Re-Entry Club is not only a lounge for students to study, says Longview Student Services assistant Lorrie Blake. It’s specifically for students who have been out of school for five years or more. Founded in 1978 by Longview English Fran Good, the program is designed to assist returning students to adjust to college demands.

Students come to the Re-Entry Club to form personal connections with other students, form study groups, receive updates on campus events, and to take part in good networking opportunities. Sometimes, they even have potlucks.

Last semester, the club engaged in sessions with the counselors participating in stress-management and relaxing exercises, and also learning about college success skills. [...]

by Diane Stafford
Kansas City Star/MCT Campus
13 July 2009

Scott Lakin put his three kids through college and, at 51, is headed back to school himself.

The former director of the Missouri Department of Insurance and former state legislator enrolled in the executive MBA program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Bloch School of Business.

“I have a business administration degree from William Jewell, and I have all kinds of skill sets from what I’ve done for a living. I’ve also served on lots of boards, but I’ve started my own consulting business now, and I think people want to see ‘MBA’ on my resume,” Lakin said.

“Not only will this teach me something and put something on my resume, it will expand my circle of contacts and friends.”

So Lakin, who hasn’t been a student for 30 years, is joining the throng of adults pursuing additional formal education.

Motivated by the desire for career change or career advancement, adults are going back to the classroom in droves. Between one-third and nearly one-half of the students at some colleges are 25 or older.

“Going back to school” can mean pursuing an advanced degree, finishing a previously unfinished one, changing professional course entirely, or updating or learning skills at a technical school.

It can mean entering a multiyear program, essentially becoming a full-time student again, or grabbing a few hours of training outside of regular work hours.

Deb Grunst of Embarq opted for a quick knowledge infusion when she decided to beef up her financial acumen.

“We’re being acquired by CenturyTel, and I wanted to add to my IT skills,” Grunst said, explaining her decision to take a two-day business finance course at UMKC, similar to a short course on “adaptive leadership” that she took previously.

“My goal was to help people in my area and myself when we’re going through change and uncertainty.”

It’s that goal of career betterment that is propelling many adults back into classrooms.

At the Metropolitan Community College Business & Technology Center in Kansas City, for example, 60 percent of the students are 25 or older. At MCC’s Penn Valley campus, half of the students enrolled in its specialty health care programs are 25 or older.

“Our specialty programs, like industrial technology and maintenance mechanics, are, for example, attracting production workers who have experience but want higher-level skills to improve their employability,” said MCC-BTC spokeswoman Lelain Lorenzen.

One MCC-BTC class this summer, an introductory Cisco networking course, “is full of adults who don’t know computers,” she said. “And we definitely have people from American Airlines, Ford and General Motors who are retraining in HVAC and industrial technologies.”

The need to be more employable also fuels adult enrollment at TechSkills, a provider of certification classes in a variety of occupational areas, such as information technology and medical services.

Patrick Nelson, campus director at the Lenexa TechSkills site, said prospective students sometimes come simply because they’ve seen a certain requirement repeatedly requested in job descriptions and they want to become qualified.

TechSkills enrollee Rachel Littleton, 21, had been working at a gas station and at Wal-Mart since she graduated from high school.

“But I had dreams and goals,” Littleton said. “I didn’t want to be stuck in a dead-end job. I was a new mom and going through a divorce. Minimum wage didn’t cut it.

by KATHLEEN SMITH

Are you 23 years or older? Have you been out of school for at least five years? If so, then consider yourself a member of the re-entry club. Nearly 35 percent of the 6,686 students at Longview are re-entry students.

Adult students returning to school often seek assistance with enrollment, personal assistance and study skills. According to the re-entry club’s pamphlet, it is one of the first clubs in the metropolitan area to address these issues,.

Many re-entry students are single-mothers or fathers trying to balance their home-lives with their school-lives. They are also students who never had the opportunity or the money to go to college until they reached or surpassed the age of 23 years. In addition they are students with disabilities or who were laid-off from corporate jobs.

The issues re-entry students are often faced with include such worries as: Am I going to fit in? Can I manage? Are there scholarships? The re-entry club helps these students overcome their doubts by offering counseling, a quiet place to get their work done

An English 101 class is offered to re-entry students and its specifically designed to aid these students in addition to a study skills class. The study skills class teaches students how to take notes, set goals, manage their time, and cope with stress and test anxiety.

Karen Halastik, re-entry coordinator, says, “This class is an extra component of study skills that gives you the strong foundation that will carry you through all your college classes as well as any jobs or life skills.”

If you are a re-entry student, you have the opportunity of using the club’s lounge to study and vent or gossip with other re-entry students. Monday and Tuesday, the lounge is available for student use from 8:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.; Wednesday the lounge is available from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and on Thursday, study time is available from 8:00 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.

The re-entry club sponsors many activities and fund-raisers, such as bake sales and the angel tree adopt-a-family program. During the holiday season, the re-entry club adopts a Longview family and donates certain items they may need. Look for the tree after.