I was back on campus at WKU taking teaching classes, when I met an older lady with white hair in the Student Lounge in the Art Department. If I had to guess her age, I would say she was in her 70's.
Of course, I had to ask her what she was taking there, and why she decided to be a nontraditional student.
"I have wanted to come back to school for a long time," she said, "and now I was able to." Simple as that. And she said she was really enjoying herself. "I am very happy that I am here doing art," she added.
She was there purely for herself. It was a dream long in coming. She loved to paint, and was in a Studio class to do just that.
Luckily, she was old enough where she did not have to pay tuition, I don't think. But she was the sort of person who would have made it work, no matter what.
Most people I met as a nontraditional student were studying for a career change. But there were those who just wanted to learn, and loved it.
What's your Nontrad Story? Leave it as a comment here.
Betsyanne
Here are some other postings you may like:
The Olympics and the Nontraditional Student - parallels
Art in the Park 9 (My Art friend is in this posting too...)
Finding Scholarships and Grants for School
And here are more Nontrad links/groups: The Nontrad site and blog, Join Nontrads on Facebook. Nontrads on Yahoo, and Nontrads on Twitter