The growing number of nontraditional students could spell trouble for traditional programs that are slow to adapt to this group’s needs.
Marie Bembrey decided several years ago that she wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer. But Bembrey, a paralegal at a Nashville, Tenn., law firm, couldn’t see adding classes to an already packed schedule. The 53-year-old grandmother needed the salary from her job to pay the bills, and she helped care for her young grandchildren in the evenings.
Because none of the universities in the Nashville area offered programs to suit her schedule, she ended up taking online classes through the University of Phoenix.
“Going online worked for me because I had so many obstacles in my life to work around,” says Bembrey, who is working on her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
That, she says, and the fact that the typical classroom setting doesn’t suit her well.
“Because I’m so set in my ways, I can’t sit in a classroom. It won’t work for me,” she says. “(With the University of Phoenix) I can get up and go to school at 2 a.m. in the morning. It’s convenient. I’m also not a good test-taker. Online, you don’t have to take tests, unless they’re open book.”
The number of nontraditional college students — defined as students not attending college right after high school or who must work while attending — has seen steady growth since the 1980s as more people already working or raising a family decide to get a degree. A report by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2002 said 73 percent of all undergraduates were nontraditional students.
