Alex Mosher
Staff Writer
Over 58 different countries and 40 U.S. states come together to represent the diverse culture at ISU. Amongst the diversity is ISU’s undermined population of nontraditional students.
A nontraditional student refers to a category of college students that begin their college career at the age 25 or older.
“I would definitely consider myself to be a nontraditional student,” said Michael “Mickey” Densmore, a communications major. “I spent 23 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired. I then worked as a manager in a large retail chain for over a year before deciding to come back to college.”
A traditional college student typically enrolls in college directly out of high school, are ages 18-22 and attends classes full-time while living on campus.
Some ways a nontraditional student differs from a traditional student would be their will to learn. Nontraditional students are sometimes more disciplined and driven over traditional students due to their late start. Some feel as if being a nontraditional student is somewhat easier due to the fact that they are older and have more life experience that better equips them for school.
“Personally, I believe that my biggest challenge has been, and continues to be, fitting in with most students,” said Jonathan Fitzwater, a nontraditional student. “Although ISU is amazing for its strong family ties, it’s nothing compared to the brotherhood that I experienced in the military.”
Nontraditional students find it more difficult to fit in with their fellow classmates. Besides the fact of trying to make companionships, the nontraditional students have a life that they are attempting to juggle behind the textbooks.
“I would definitely say that it is more difficult in the aspect that I had not taken a math or English class in over five years,” said Fitzwater. “Things that were second-nature to most students seemed like a foreign language to me.”
Aside from going to school, a majority of these students usually have a full-time job, are considered financially independent and are raising families of their own.
Timing can also be seen as one of the biggest challenges for a nontraditional student.
Amongst the many challenges are just as many accomplishments. For Densmore it would be getting a 3.8 GPA all while maintaining a life outside of academics and has even served as an inspiration for others surrounding him.
“My boss at my last job decided to go back and finish school after watching me do it with a family and a job for six months,” said Densmore. “He saw that it was hard, but not impossible.”
Densmore and Fitzwater advise current and future nontraditional students to not give up. They are encouraged to remember why they went back to school in the first place and to remember to not bite off anymore than they can chew and practice excellent time management skills.
“If you can only manage nine credits per semester, just take nine credits,” Densmore said. “But make sure you don’t end up running yourself into the ground trying to do everything, if you can be healthy and financially stable doing some things.”
