Older Students Prove College
Isn't Just for Kids

by Kathy Ehrich
Reprinted with permission of the Boston Herald

Wendy Hoo couldn't commit herself to college after she graduated high school in 1968.

"I went and quit, went and quit," said this Brookline mother of three. "I took courses and dropped out. It was a time of exploration for me."

Instead of earning her degree, this self-described hippie got married and had her first child in 1973. After raising her family, Hoo, 50, thought she had missed her chance for college, until she discovered a Lesley University program that caters to adults who return to school later in life.

"When my son graduated high school, we encouraged him to go to college, but he wasn't interested," she said. "So I decided that if he wouldn't go, I would."

Hoo is not alone. Many adults who didn't finish college right after high school are heading back to the classroom to get their undergraduate degree.

"A lot of people think that college is for kids," said Dr. Judith Cohen, associate professor in the Lesley University Adult Baccalaureate Program. "But by this year, over 50 percent of college students will be adults."

Lesley's Adult Baccalaureate program caters to people who have full-time jobs and families. Classes are held at night or on weekends, and students can earn credit for life experience.

"If you did something that wasn't school-oriented, you can still get credit for it," said Cohen. "Some people might have lived overseas or immigrated to America. They can submit an essay about the culture they lived in to show what they learned and earn prior learning credit."

It took Hoo 11/2 years to receive a bachelor's degree in creative studies through a mixture of classes and independent studies. On an educational roll, two years later she earned her master's in education in creative studies. Today she teaches art classes at the Brookline Arts Center and receives grants to work on public arts projects such as murals in schools and public housing projects.

"I know I appreciated my time in college far more than when I was younger," she said. "Going back was pure pleasure."

Although Hoo's transition back to school was fairly smooth, it can be traumatic for many older students, who worry that their study skills are rusty or that they won't find the right balance between school, work, and family.

Igor Freedman had apprehensions when he went back to earn his degree.

"I was always feeling like I was in limbo," he said. "You live in the future while others are enjoying today. I started my degree at 30--most people my age were trying to make money while I was reading and incurring debt."

Freedman, who immigrated from Belarus in 1988, earned the equivalent of a college degree in music in Latvia, but he did not take his transcripts when he immigrated here and could not obtain them once the Soviet Union fell apart in 1989.

Soon after he arrived in Boston, Freedman got a job at Harvard University's Widener Library and began taking classes at the Harvard Extension School, which offers night classes for adults looking to continue their education. He enrolled in the degree program and earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 1996.

"My advice to anyone who goes back to school is to stick with it," said Freedman, who went on to earn a law degree from Northeastern University last year. "The pressure around you is to quit because other people have a career already. You need to stick with what you decide to do."

Suzanne Spreadbury, associate director of the Harvard Extension School, said students face many challenges when they return to school. The toughest one is often time management.

To best manage their time, Spreadbury recommends that students make their goals clear to employers and family--and not be afraid to ask for help.

"Sit down with your spouse and employer and ask for what you want and need," she said. "Don't keep school and papers and reading to yourself and then get stressed at mid-terms. You'll just feel frustrated that you can't do it all."

She said it typically takes six years for students to earn a bachelor of liberal arts degree from Harvard; most students take one or two courses per semester.

But motivated students such as Jan Stevens manage to juggle three or four courses per semester while working full time.

Stevens, who is in her 40s, got married soon after high school and never earned a college degree. While pregnant, she separated from her husband, which left her in need of a job. She went back to school and earned her nursing degree.

Although she worked her way up the healthcare ladder, she still dreamed of earning a liberal arts degree.

So, in 1997 she went back. She attended Harvard Extension School and earned a liberal arts degree with a concentration in ethics.

"I had a job before I got my Harvard degree," she said. "It wasn't mandatory, but I wanted to get it."

Spreadbury said Stevens's story is common.

"These people are just amazing--they work 40 hours a week, have a family, and choose to make education a part of their lives. They choose to spend their spare dollars and time studying Celtic arts or religion or politics. To carve out hours of the day for education, I feel these people are the true scholars."

This article appeared in the Boston Herald on January 7, 2001.