Non-Traditional Trauma

Okay, it’s the end of semester, you’re facing finals and essays, and hoping for that little jolt of clarity that comes with deadline panic. You’ve taken a quick breather to watch the 1958 version of The Blob, noting its similarities to how your mind and body feel right about then.

Suddenly, the big gel-like monster kills the helpful elderly town doctor, and you think, “Oh no. All those years of medical school -- shot.” And that’s when you know you need for that semester to end.

At that moment, you’re officially a seasoned student – meaning a savvy as opposed to a “non-traditional” student.

Yes, as an NTS, you’ve been labeled. Maybe you’ve seen the gazillionabytes of information on most colleges’ websites, designed to guide non-traditional students through the procedural maze, which isn’t really so bad, particularly if there’s scholarship money in it.

But you might say nostalgically, “Oh, yes, in the ‘60s, we were all about non-traditional. Haight-Ashbury, Chicago, Dragnet.” And then, with proper reverence, you might pause and add, “I remember the first Woodstock.” Even if you weren't there.

This is different, though, especially since the '60s technically were more nonconformist than non-traditional. True non-traditional now is way less colorful. By most definitions, it is any student age 25 years or older. Not exactly exclusive, is it? To quote my adorable granddaughter, “What the darn?”

Frankly, we Boomers haven’t much in common with today's 25-year-olds other than if one of them looks like us, we probably raised it. As non-traditional students, though, you’re all in the same boat: achieving a balance between family, work and college.

So try Googling your college name along with “non-traditional student” and see what turns up. When I do that with my soon-to-be alma mater, “iowa state university non-traditional student,” the financial aid office tops my results list, proving once again that Iowa State and I have very similar priorities. You can likewise do a search on your school’s website, using the same key words.

Also take a peek at Wikipedia’s write-up on non-traditional students at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-traditional_students? Or play around a little and attach other words, such as “non-traditional student association.” In that case, you’ll get the Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education, or ANTSHE, an acronym in need of a little work. Anyway, find it at http://www.antshe.org/.

Have fun. Honestly, it beats The Blob any day.

Never 2 Busy to Blog?

The higher powers in blogging say to never let more than 48 hours pass before posting another blog. But let’s look at that. Those powers clearly have already graduated college.

They no longer face end-of-semester papers, group projects and finals. They don’t remember the sweat, the panic, the stress – and that’s just from trying to contact the prof. In desperation, you might write an abbreviated missive of fear: “Finding that research methods are not 'library versus Internet,' but something more. Please advise. Stat!” And the prof will write back, “This is graduate school. You tell me. And don’t worry. You’re doing fine.”

Yes, the rest of us – those not alumni blogosphere rule-makers – still in school spend November and December gambling that we might just pull it off, if we can forget work, families, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and that Thanksgiving dinner for 30 we need to toss together.

Luckily, though, Boomers have an ace up their collective sleeves: We excel at delegation -- or the art of spreading the fun. For example, I could ramble on here, or I could tell you to check out these really cool audio downloads from Techno Granny, whose show connects technology with seniors. Find her at http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=30986&cmd=tc and click on the show that covers your tech question.

Not that you need it. If you are reading this, then count yourself more savvy than my Microsoft Office 2003 program. You already know what a blog is and gauging from the red squiggly lines under the word, Microsoft doesn’t.

***

Well, for crying out loud. Originally, I named this blog Boomer U, which seemed rather clever at the time. But it’s taken. As if any contortion of the word “Boomer” isn’t. And so in the interest of academic honesty, not to mention not having time for copyright or trademark lawsuits, the name of this blog is Boomer2School.

Boomer@School

No, Boomer@School won’t get an e-mail far, will it? It lacks the prestigious dot edu at the end, and frankly, sounds downright generic. So many Boomers haunt the often virtual halls of academia these days that we’re as common as LOL.

Colleges aren’t laughing, though. Increasingly, they want and market to “non-traditional students.” An October 2007 issue of U.S. News & World Report, for example, notes that, “The number of college students ages 40 to 64 has jumped by almost 20 percent to nearly 2 million in the past decade.” http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/retirement/2007/10/26/heading-back-to-college.html (And if you were a prof, you’d be sending me a terse little note right about now, telling me to “use primary sources.”)

Admittedly, 2 million sounds pretty low, given the 76 million Boomers out there. And frankly, that few over a whole decade indicates more of a trickle than a jump. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer#Size_and_economic_impact

Still, three points pop up here:

• If you want to return to college, you will find peers of all ages. You won’t be alone.
• Boomer@School intends to lend the support and information we all need to manage and even thrive on our return to college, whether “bricks and mortar” or online.
• Statistics can deceive. To quote the inimitable late humorist, Art Buchwald, “Statistics prove that in the United States more Americans are killed in automobile accidents than are killed by buffalo.”

Best of luck on your own personal journey to and through school.