The New Traditional Student

It's time to reevaluate what is a "traditional" student. 

I was an undergraduate and a grad student during the Clinton administration (most of the 1990s) at the University of Washington. The economy was good. Jobs were plentiful. Tuition was affordable. My favorite wife, Jennifer, attended the University of Arizona. Tuition was so affordable that her parents, who were both retail workers, were able to pay for her tuition. She worked to pay for her books.

Books were so affordable that when I went to the University of Washington's bookstore to buy my required books, I routinely wandered into the area of other disciplines and picked out a book or two. Because I could. The GI Bill and Pell Grants also had roles to play, but that's another story. 

When I was an undergrad, I was considered a "non-traditional student." I was 29, an Army veteran with a disability, divorced, and had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I was surrounded by traditional students: 18-year-olds who has just graduated high school.  That was in 1994.

Now nearly 30 years later I find myslf on the other end of the class, but seeing more of me in the students then I do of my classmates of the 1990s. 

Today, more and more, my students are the veteran, the 32 yo trying college for the second time, the divorced person starting a new life, the retiree taking classes for personal enrichment, or the adult who is married with children looking for a better career -all participating in their household income. More and more those are our traditional students.

It's time to reevaluate what is a "non-tradtional" student.