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St. Cloud State University
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Diversions
Nontraditional students' group offers all-encompassing support
By John Behling
Published:
Thursday, January 30, 2003
On Tuesday, six students sat in Atwood Memorial Center's Columbine Room chatting quietly and eating lunch.
The topics of discussion included class, upcoming tests, different professors and other topics familiar to typical SCSU students. But these aren't traditional college students.
Although one couldn't tell by simply listening in on their conversation, these six undergraduate students are considered "nontraditional," a term which describes any student who is over 25, a veteran, married, has children or is returning to school after a break of several years.
According to Maggie Molitor, grad assistant at the counseling center and nontraditional student coordinator, SCSU has 1,117 undergrad students over age 25. These students can find help and direction at the weekly Nontraditional students group which meets Tuesday from 12-1 p.m. in the Atwood Columbine room.
The group was founded in order to address concerns that SCSU traditional students weren't receiving the assistance and support they needed.
"SCSU does a good job providing services for its students. There's a lot of programs in place," Molitor said. "The services they need are here, but many people don't know about them."
The group helps students find services such as tutoring, help registering, financial aid, arranging meetings with professors, setting up HuskyNet and dealing with other issues. The group also serves as a place to share experiences with others who are in the same situation.
"There really isn't a snapshot for the typical nontraditional student," Molitor said. "They all have different situations and reasons for being here."
Molitor feels she can relate to nontraditional students because she is returning to school to pursue graduate studies after working for 12 years as a journalist.
"I've decided to pursue my dream," Molitor said.
Many are returning to school because of difficulties they faced in the workforce.
"I worked at a place for five years and I didn't get promoted, while others with bachelor's degrees did," Jodi Napiorkoski, a nontraditional student seeking an English major, said.
"I just had a real interest in physics," Steve Southworth said.
Southworth attended college when he was in his 20s but found it hard to care about school.
"It's easier now because I have more confidence. I really want to be here now," Southworth said.
Maria Krueger is a nontraditional student who never attended college and hasn't been in school for 20 years. She is also a single parent with four children, one of which is a student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
"It's not about the masters degree of the big money job, it's for me," Krueger said regarding why she decided to enter school. "I also want to do it to prove (that I can do it) to my family,"
All of Krueger's siblings have gone to college and her two sisters both have Phds.
During the meeting on Tuesday one topic that came up was age discrimination.
Robyn Zander, another student who fits the nontraditional profile, noticed that sometimes professors address the class assuming everyone is a traditional freshman.
"Sometimes they don't recognize our category," Zander said.
Jodi Napiorkoski was met with resistance when she joined a SCSU student organization.
"No one would talk to me at first," Napiorkoski said. She now participates in several SCSU student organizations.
In addition to the weekly non-traditional student group, the SCSU counseling center along with the women's center will be offering a nontraditional student women's group meeting Fridays 2-3 p.m. This group will discuss issues including academic confidence and self esteem.
