The Ripple Effect - you can be a nontraditional student, and make a MUCH bigger ripple.

About making a living - plus thoughts about the Ripple Effect.

So... is your job just something to pay the bills? If you are lucky, your job pays the bills, is interesting enough, and lets you have enough time to pursue things you REALLY want to do, which might not pay much, if anything.

But it can get to a person - the feeling that there is something more out there - something you could do if you just had the knowledge to do it. The question becomes, what makes life worthwhile? Will you say that you really have spent your life doing something valuable? I know I have asked myself this. I wonder, am I helping others, am I doing a job that is important, no matter what it is?

It's hard to say what influence people have in their lives. People who have seen the famous movie "It's a Wonderful Life" may have their eyes opened to the Ripple Effect their lives can have on the people around them.

Sometimes you don't even know what a GREAT effect you have in your life. Some people make their livings pointing this out to people. What they say to people can be, You CAN make a difference. 

So... are you going back to school? You can be a nontraditional student anytime. It does not matter how old you are.

Going back to school can show you other ways of living, other ways of making your life have meaning.

Sometimes doing something you love every day will make an even BIGGER ripple out to the lives around you, and to the world.

Because you will care so much more about what you are doing.

Do you need to go back to school to do what you REALLY want to do with your life, and make a bigger ripple? You might. I know I think about it.

Betsyanne

More recent postings here:

Nontraditional Students - they are diverse, but they have gumption.

The Nontraditional Student Blog Site of the Day: The ProfEval site

Another Blog Site of the Day: The Mike Grasso Nontraditional Student Site

And, of course, the BEST of luck on your nontraditional student journey!
 
Related Nontrad links:

The Nontrad site  

Join Nontrads on Facebook

Nontrads on Yahoo, and

Nontrads on Twitter 

Get connected, nontrads. Here are some of my other blogs and sites:  The Nontraditional Student website, The Nontraditional Student Facebook page, The Moon and the Willow Tree (a Betsyanne blog), The Find Scholarships and Grants blog, From the Garden Spot (another Betsyanne blog), and The Teacher Tree website  (I will hopefully be working more on this one later this year).  

And you can join the Nontraditional Student Mailing List too. It's published every so often.

The Nontraditional Student Site of the Day for Jan. 22 2015: The Planning and Preparing for College Blog.

The Planning and Preparing for College Blog: by C. Herd





From the blog description: "To prepare students and their parents for college success in areas of academic readiness, community service, internships, summer programs, etc. The blog is to be used as a preparation infrastructure on various areas of college topics."

This blog is a great information blog for many different scholarships. It features scholarships for minority groups, but it is fabulous information for anyone.

Many Tennessee schools are featured here, and also other schools from across the country.

I like it. It also has special postings on subjects like College Prep Timeline, How to Prepare for College Correctly, and Preparing for the ACT/SAT Exam.

(See the right side of the blog...)

There are also links here that are test links, College Prep updates, Financial Aid, Summer Programs, Grants, Minority Links, and Internships.

Definitely, this site belongs on your blog list under "Great blogs for Nontrads." 

Check it out here: http://ctherd.blogspot.com/

Betsyanne

And here are more of my Nontrad links:

The Nontrad website

Nontrads on Facebook 

Nontrads on Yahoo, and

Nontrads on Twitter

Hug a Nontraditional Student today!

I love this saying. A hug can mean so much. If you know of a deserving nontraditional student, go ahead and give him or her a hug today.
Are you a nontraditional student, with added responsibilities, maybe even a family and a job?

Do you attend regular or online classes?

If you do, you may want to connect with other nontraditional students, either at your school or online.

Here are some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo and Nontrads on Twitter.

It is great to have you here, too. I hope you will not hesitate to share something about you and your educational journey OR how you are helping other nontraditional students as a comment to this blog.

Later!

-Betsyanne

What successful nontraditional students need to have

Here are some things I believe Nontraditional Students should have to succeed. These things are also good for traditional students to have.

Personal qualities successful nontraditional students have:

Stick-to-it-iveness - this essential quality of not giving up in the middle of a project (or class!) is absolutely a must for nontraditional students. It prevents late assignments and possible grade heartache.

Outgoingness - nontraditional students must sometimes go ahead and introduce themselves, getting needed phone numbers and email contact information so they won't miss information if they get sick and can't come to class. If a nontrad is shy, he or she needs to "act as if" and go ahead and get this important job done.

Patience - it takes awhile to get to know the ropes. And if a nontraditional student is taking a few years of training, it takes patience to go through each prerequisite course. It can also take a lot of patience to listen to boring teachers or speakers at times. Not saying all professors or teachers are this way, but I have had a few. Luckily, not many.

Physical fitness - I know, not all nontraditional students are fit. But sometimes if you are going to a campus with hills and valleys, and have to hoof it back and forth to distant buildings, you do need to be in shape if possible. If a nontraditional student has a disability, hopefully the school will help with transportation or has a good wheelchair access to buildings and walkways. At my school (Western Kentucky University) they built in wheelchair access in many areas.

Organization - it is imperative to be organized. The more classes I had, the more organized I had to be. Otherwise, I would have lost notes and not known important test dates, and even missed classes. My notebook and calendar were musts, and I had to write everything in it.

Helpful nontraditional support that some nontraditional students have

Family Support - this is not a must (nontraditional students have succeeded without it) but it sure helps.

Group and Friend Support - this can really help too. Having a nontraditional student group at school is so helpful for many. Finding a good online group can be such a plus too. Some students have told me that they prefer to "go it alone," but I found having people to talk to that understood where I was coming from decreased my stress level and made being back in school so much more rewarding.

Teacher Support - this doesn't always happen, but many more teachers do help their nontraditional students who are in their class. Sometimes it takes an appointment and a personal visit, but a supportive teacher who will tell you what to study and why can make your class so much better.

School Support - some schools have it, some don't. It can make such a difference, for example, if a school offers day care or helps nontraditional students with families find it. And a special study area for nontraditional students is becoming much more popular and is needed.

Any more ideas? Please list them, so I can make an even better list next time.

Nontraditionally Yours,
Betsyanne
former nontraditional student

Get connected: Some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter

10 Study Tips for nontraditional students

You have your book open. 
You also have the TV on. Can you study or not?

Some people say yes, that they CAN study with the television on. I personally CAN study with the TV on, but writing papers is another thing altogether. I must concentrate on the paper and not have ANY distractions in order to do a good job on that.

10 Study Tips 

There are some great Rules of the Road for studying that have really helped me as a nontraditional student. Here they are:

1. Make studying easy. This can mean getting to a quiet place, like a spare room, a library, the computer desk, or your favorite comfy chair. Have a good light for reading and writing if you need it. Make sure that you have plenty of healthy food and drink so you don’t have distractions. (maybe?) Turn off the T.V. if it is distracting. Spread out your study time so that you get used to a daily schedule of studying for each class you are taking.

2. Stop distractions. If you can turn off your cell phone, do it. Soft background music might help put you in a good mood for studying. OR it could take your mind off your work. You know yourself best. Make sure you are NOT distracted by people, your kids, (if possible), pets, noise, or interruptions. If you have to, tell your family or significant other that this is your study time, and you need to concentrate and not be interrupted. Then mean it, and stand your ground.

3. Make sure your study space is organized, and that you have all the materials you need. Have a pen and pencil handy, plenty of notepaper and your notebook, your books, and anything else you need to study with organized and ready. Why waste time looking for what you need? Having everything you need at your fingertips will also reduce stress, along with saving time.

4. Have a list of great web links handy to help you with whatever you need when you study. If you are studying during library hours, have the library number handy if you need information. Many libraries will help you research for free. Bookmark this article or blog too just in case, because there are some VERY helpful websites listed at the end of it.

5. Get a lot of rest, and take breaks. If you are studying for a test, make sure you STOP studying and get the rest you need for the next day. You will find that you will do a lot better on the test than if you stinted on sleep. Take a break when you need it during studying too. You can go for a short walk, or even do some exercises during your break. You will be refreshed and able to study even more when you are finished and your break is over.

6. Be organized. Write down every assignment, and even use a tape recorder if you want, to record your teacher’s lesson for the day. Review your notes and due dates you have in a calendar that you always have with you. Forget your room number? Don’t be late. Just look it up in your notebook or calendar. Then look at your calendar AND your notebook every day at the same time, so you never miss an assignment or any homework.

7. Redo your notes. Type them if you have handwritten them, underline, and use highlighter to emphasize the important parts of your notes. Studying for quizzes or tests will be a LOT easier then, because all you will need to do is glance at your notes, not read them all over completely. Also, put a small column at the left of all your notes so you can point at important things later.

8. Stay in touch with your classmates. If you are or are not in a study group, you still need to have at least three phone numbers and email for people in your class, hopefully the smartest ones in the class. If you can’t find where you wrote down an assignment, or just need an answer for the next day, you will be able to get in touch and find out just what you need.

9. Find out your learning style and use it to your advantage. Are you a verbal learner, a kinesthetic learner, or maybe an audio learner? It can make a difference to you, and you can personalize your studying so it works for YOU personally. One good site to find out your learning style at  the Diablo College site: http://www.metamath.com/multiple/multiple_choice_questions.html.

10. Break your studying into chunks of time. For example, if a large assignment is due in three weeks, you can break this assignment into parts. Get the first part done by____(and write this date on your calendar), the second part done by ____ (and also write this date down) and finish it AHEAD of time to allow yourself to do some last-minute fine tuning. You’ll cut way down on the stress your fellow students may be feeling the last week of assignments.

Got another favorite study tip? List it here as a comment, and thanks ahead of time!

Study tips websites:

Study Skills Links from the Nontrads site
http://www.nontradstudents.com/studyskills.html

Study Guides and Strategies from the Joe Landsberger Site
http://www.studygs.net/

Study Strategies from the University of Minnesota at Duluth
http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/study_strat_enr.html


Bucks County Concepts of Learning
http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/concepts.htm

Study Tips from the StudyTips.org site:
http://www.studytips.org/ 

Some of my links!

The Nontrad site and blog
The Betsyanne page and blog
My Squidoo Pages and referral

Clobber Your Test Anxiety!

….. you are sweating.... you can't concentrate... your eyes hurt... you have a stomachache... you wish you were anywhere but in the classroom... you feel like the funny monster on the top of this blog article.... you keep telling yourself you are going to be OK, but you are not sure you are...

If you have these symptoms or just one of them, you just might have TEST ANXIETY.

Test anxiety often happened when I had an especially important test, like an exam. It happened even if I studied hard for the test! It has happened to me many times.

Here are some things I have found that can really helped me to clobber my test anxiety:

1.Take a couple of deep breaths. Inhale – exhale. Try the yoga way – imagine that you are inhaling anxious thoughts, and exhaling peaceful ones. You can also imagine that you are in a peaceful place - - do some quick meditation and tell yourself (silently) how peaceful you feel. Pretty soon you may actually start feeling more peaceful.

2.Review your notes or notecards while you are waiting for the teacher or professor to hand out the tests or before they come into the classroom. This can refresh your memory and help you get more answers right on the test.

3.Visualize success. Tell yourself that you are going to do well on the test. Often, this helps me succeed. Do not allow any negative thoughts to intrude on your success visualization. You can repeat this sentence in your mind before a test if you want to: “I know I will do well on this test. I am calm and confident. I will have no problems with this test.”

4. Answer everything you can (or do the essay you know best first). You can skip the questions you are not sure about. Then go back and answer the questions you skipped.

5. Do not leave any question unanswered. It is better to guess at a question than to get it automatically wrong.

6. If you have a hunch about an answer, and you really are not sure about it, do not overthink it. It seems that every time I think too hard about a question I really do not know, more times than not, the hunch answer is the correct one. So go with the first answer you think of if you are not sure.

7. When you find yourself getting scared or not concentrating, take a slow deep breath or two. This can help you get back to the test and not be so anxious.

8. When you are done with the test, check over your answers if you have time. This can really help. Sometimes, especially if you have a standardized test that uses a fill-in-the-blank answer sheet, you can catch mistakes where you have filled in the wrong spot and really knew the answer.

9. Erase the wrong answer, and fill in the correct one. I have personally found at least one or two of these mistakes especially if I was nervous and filled them in too fast. It is easy to get them wrong, so check them and you will be more confident.

10.If it's a really hard test, if you have studied as hard as you can, and done the best you can on it, relax. Worst comes to worst, if you don't get the grade you want, you can always fix it later, right? And whatever you got on the test, you aren't going to make it any different by worrying. So.... just celebrate when it is done! Because you won't ever have to go back to this same day again, and why not have a good day in spite of it?

11. Bring extra pens and/or pencils JUST IN CASE. You never know.

Oh – and GOOD LUCK, all you test and exam-takers out there. I hope these hints will help you.

Please give me YOUR hints about how to fight test anxiety too. I want to make a much longer list next time!

___________________________________

Other Nontrad Blog articles to help with test anxiety:

Help for Stressed Out Nontrads
10 tips for tests
More about Study Groups
10 tips for doing well on finals
___________________________________

Websites and other people's articles that can help with test anxiety:
Tip #3, Manage Test Anxiety, for going back to school at the About.com site
Suite 101 tells How to Deal with Test Anxiety
Overcoming Test Anxiety, from Southwestern College (CA) - has quizzes too!

art from http://www.wpclipart.com/

Ideas for a nontraditional student Spring Break

Some Nontraditional Student ideas for Spring Break

Here are a few things you can do on Spring Break, or on the weekend:

1. Get caught up on your projects and studies. You will feel a lot better when you go back to class being on top of things.
2. Have a Family Day with the kids.
3. Go on a short REAL vacation out of town.
4. Type up your handwritten notes
5. Sleep a lot.
6. Go on a hike.
7. Hang out with your best friend or get a haircut. Try out those masks on the shelf that you have been saving.
8. Journal about being a Nontraditional Student this week and zero in even more on your goals.
9. Go out to eat with your significant other.

More ideas? List them as comments. Thanks!

Get Organized for Finals

Are you Organized?

You already might be. And I applaud you for that. But when I was in college first, I was NOT organized. It was a huge problem for me, especially at Finals time, when it was crunch time, and my last chance to get some of my grades up.

What Helped Me
The second time I was in college, I was a nontraditional student. I made some changes in the way I kept track of things. One important change was that I kept a daily organizer, which had my classes, times, final exams, tests, locations, phone numbers of classmates and/or study group members, and assignment due dates in it.

This helped me know exactly when things were due, and what I had to do each day. THEN I actually LOOKED in it every day to see what was going on that day and all week long. Most of the time.

Backwards Due Dates
I took the due dates of all the things that were due, then went a month or so back in the organizer and broke each final assignment and/or test into sections. I even put “one week left until Final Folder is due” just to remind me to get it in gear and have it mostly finished.

When possible, I would put “Get part of the Final Folder” (or whatever assignment was due) on earlier pages to split up the assignment(s) so I wouldn't be doing everything the night before.

Organized books, notes, and schedules
I found it VERY helpful to keep my books organized and in the same place in my house. I didn't have to look all over for them, and packed the right ones for each day. I had to, because otherwise my backpack would be WAY too heavy.

I had a different notebook for each class, which prevented losing notes or not being able to find them. I labeled each notebook in large letters with the class name, location, and class time on the front. This helped me save a LOT of time.

I organized my notes by using a new note method to zero in on important facts. (You can read more about this at The Divided Page blog page)

Organizing before class
It really helped me to have my clothes I was wearing to school, my purse, my notebook(s), and my keys ready the night before I had class. I let myself have extra time so that I would arrive to class early.

This helped me a lot, because I didn't have to run around and get stressed out looking for something I couldn't find before class.

Bring money to school
Organize your purse to have some money in it when you are at school, especially if there is a food court or cafeteria there, in case you need to get drinks and food.

Miss a class?
Make sure part of your organization includes a phone number and/or email for one or two people from class, so that you can get information and/or notes from any class you have to miss.

If you have this information already in your notebook or organizer, you are ahead of the game, and won't have to get the information later on – you might miss a quiz or other important information.

Organization and Finals
The more organized you are, the better you will do on your finals, and the less stressed out you will be, which will also help you. Good luck on your finals, and organizing for them!

Please list your organization tips and tricks here so I can add them. Thank you!

Oh - and GOOD LUCK, (super-organized) NONTRADS!

Here is more information on being a success as a nontraditional student:

10 Motivational Tips for Nontraditional Students

The Divided Page – a Great Way to Take Notes

11 more Tips for Success

Study Groups for Nontraditional Students

Nontrad Tips for Tests

10 Tips for Doing well on Finals

Artwork here is from pdclipart.org - a really great site to find public domain clip art.

A Flickr day.

I put a bunch of photos on Flickr today. It really helped unclog my computer. Now I need to go to the local college and take photos of nontraditional students. If you have some photos of yourself or other nontraditional students you want to share, just send them to me - thanks!

www.flickr.com betsyanne's The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee photoset

Nontraditional Students video The Digital Immigrants

I loved this one! It's so true, too.

MANY nontraditional students can relate to this video, I know. I can!

A Daycare Chain just for Colleges

http://www.geocities.com/abpphotos

I think it would be great to have a Daycare chain go into business. They would specialize in daycare services for colleges. It would be like the McDonald's of Daycares. They would be high-quality, and have daycares located at all campuses across the country - or at least in the same area.

AND all ages would be helped. More and more nontraditional students could bring their kids there. They would make tons of money, I think - because they would use the chain method - great rules, a great employee pool, maybe great benefits for employees like free classes (after all, the campus would be close or at least in the same town...)

And the kids and parents and college administration and faculty AND the new Daycare chain would all be happy. It would be a win-win-win-win-win situation.

OK - now it's time for an entrepreneur to step up and start this new business. Takers, anyone? :-)

Enter the Nontraditional Story Contest

Only a couple weeks are left - enter the Nontraditional Story contest and get your story published online!

Plus you win $25.00 towards books or expenses!

Find out the contest rules and more here:
http://www.nontradstudents.com/contest_09.html

Good luck!

More college tips for nontrads!

Today I found another great article online at Education.org that was originally posted on Fastweb.com. It is about tips for success for nontraditional students.

Here they are:
1. "Begin with classes that you feel confident about." This suggestion is a good one. I would go even further and say to check out pre-requisites - have you had all the classes you need before taking the class you want? Sometimes a brush-up class would be a good idea so that you can enter a higher numbered class and feel prepared.

2. "Get wired." - I totally agree with this one. I met some nontraditional students in a speech class (husband and wife) who had a really hard time following the online parts of our class. For these students, and students like them, taking a computer class or brushing up on computer skills is a must.

3. "Try online courses." - I would say this is a personal choice. Some people just learn better face to face. Plus, online courses (though many are GREAT) can be harder and you must be self-motivated.

4. "Schedule a campus resources tour." - It is great when universities themselves offer these JUST for nontrads. Some are starting to. But it's OK to go with younger people. It might be fun, you know?

5. "Take time to prepare for unfamiliar fields." - I would say to go slow... don't take a hard, upper-level class without some grounding first, even if it is allowed. (see #1)

6. "Know your time frame." - this is another great suggestion. I would also say to see your counselor there in order to figure out how long (how many semesters) you will be going back to school. ALSO check with your major office to see when some important classes are offered. Sometimes an important class is only offered in the Spring, for instance.

7. "Make sure your work schedule can accommodate your class schedule." - some workplaces are great about this, and some are not. And don't forget about work-study programs offered at college. There should not be any age limitation on these. Of course, most are minimum wage. But they work with your schedule, and can work into an Assistantship perhaps.

8. "Know your drop deadlines and book return policies." - a GREAT thing to know, because you will not get your money back (or even part of it) if you do not drop in time. Plus, sometimes you will keep an "F" on your report card if you miss the drop deadline. Not good.

9. "Consider taking summer classes - but schedule carefully" - Yup - some people say two classes should be the limit in the summer, because they put so much into each class - but some people thrive on difficulty.

Here is their last suggestion:

10. "Check out alumni networking services." This is another super idea, because when it's time to get that job, this office can help a lot. And many students don't use this service, so that's more time for you.

Find out more at the source:
Tips for Nontrad Students

Nontrad Secrets!

I ran across a great article today at the University of Miami Commuter Center.

It is called "A Nontraditional Student Shares Secrets of His Success."

In this article, Frank Koscielski, 47, shares his personal strategies for success as a nontraditional student.

One tip is to keep a tape recorder in the car. Another is to kill your TV!

Find out more here:
http://www.units.muohio.edu/saf/reslife/commuter/nontraditionalstudents.php#secrets

There are only a few links at the bottom that work. One is the GPA Calculator, and one more is the self-assessment of computer skills. Enjoy!

Help for Stressed out Nontrads

My husband is a follower of New Thought principles. He also likes the Daily Word website.

Years ago, he listened while I talked about how a new job wasn't working out like I hoped. "You can just stop thinking about that," he advised, "and think about something else." But how?

It took awhile before I could do this on a regular basis. But I still have occasional times when I can use some help doing that.

I used the internet to help me discover ways to take my mind off of things I was thinking too much about, and to help me put my mind on more useful things.

Nontraditional students can also use some websites to help when things aren't going as well as they hope - when a test or quiz proves difficult, when there is too much to do, and not enough time to do it in, or when things just seem overwhelming.

It is easy to get stressed out when you have a lot of responsibilities and nobody around seems to understand what you are going through.

There are some great groups online to join at Yahoo Groups. You can go to your group and talk about what is going on, no matter what it is. You can even join with another name (not your own) and keep your information private. Many people choose to do this.

Other positive websites can help you turn your thoughts around One is Positive Thinking Radio with Dr. Dave - just click on the button that is in front of each episode. Dr. Dave will come on automatically with how to do things like:

Turn Bad Things into Better Things
Strong-Arm your Mind
and
Affirmations for the Inner Skeptic

Silent Unity: Your 24-hour prayer resource - is a website that is available for any kind of prayer. There is always somebody there at the phone you can talk to. It's a non-denominational site, too.

Find a Yahoo Group - go here and put a search term in the box to find a group that you like.

Here are a couple of Yahoo Groups to Help Nontrads in times of Stress
Affirmations to De-Stress
Depression/Anxiety Group

And if you are really feeling down, check out your school's counseling center right away. They are free for all students and can really help if you have a problem.

Just for Nontrads: How to Make Friends in College

I think this is one subject that nontraditional students think about a lot, but don’t talk about much.

I know one thing I wanted to do when I was in school was to make new friends, no matter what their age. The reason? I just like people. All kinds. Besides, it always makes it more fun to have a friendly face or faces in class. And making new friends... it makes everything about being in college better.

I know I am not alone in wanting to make friends in college. And it might come easy for you. Hopefully, you will make friends in class just being there. But sometimes younger students can be more silent around older people. It can be difficult to make new friends when you are different.

Many nontraditional students aren't much older than "traditional" students. But some are a lot older. It can make younger students kind of shy to talk to some nontraditional students because they remind them of their parents – you know, people who might not always accept them for who they are. Like everyone, younger students don’t want to be judged too harshly. And perhaps they are cautious around you because of that.

Here are just a few ideas you might like to help make friends in college - whether you are in a face-to-face OR online class.

Hints for face-to-face classes:

1. Introduce yourself to the people sitting by you in class. This might not come naturally to you if you are a shy person, but go ahead and try it. You can also ask the person if they want to start a study group. Then when you start meeting, you can get to know these new people in a natural way. I know that’s what happened when I did it. The more you get to know the people, the easier it is to talk to them, too.

2. Don’t hog the class conversation. This can help the people in your classes like you better. Share the talk time. And don’t act like a know-it-all. You may have a lot to say, and this suggestion might be the hardest of all. But sit on those hands. Let others in your classes have their say.

3. Be in a good mood. Smile. This can let your fellow classmates know that you are an OK person and might help them open up to a friendship with you. Keep an extra pen and pencil around to lend. It can't hurt!

4. Make friends with younger people, yes, but also make friends with other, older nontraditional students. Join a nontrad group or start one at your college. You can also join other groups in your areas of interest. Groups at colleges are becoming more and more open to nontraditional students all the time, plus they are fun.

Hints for Online Classes

1. Try getting your classmate's phone numbers and meeting in person if this is possible. You can then study together and get to know each other. It could be fun. This is only possible when most of the students live in the same area, which doesn't always happen. The alternative: email or phone a classmate - help him or her with class assignments and be friendly.

2. Read the introductions that are sometimes posted on online class sites. Send an occasional email comment to people about the class, assignments, or just something you read on the class site. You might be pleasantly surprised and make a friend this way.

3. If your class allows for class discussions online, be there early and introduce yourself a little to your classmates, if possible.

4. If you are in a class that encourages comments on your classmate's work on the site, be sure to season any words of criticism with words of praise. Don't be too hard on fellow classmates when you critique their work, and they may return the favor. You might also make a friend this way!

I'm sure I just scratched the surface here with this subject. Do you have another suggestion? Please add it as a comment. Thank you!

My Related Blog Posts:

Relationships – and College
http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2007/11/relationships.html

Two Top Nontrad Issues – One is Connecting with Younger Students
http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2008/04/top-two-non-trad-issues.html

You Can’t Peg a Nontraditional Student
Or what younger students might be thinking about you…
http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2007/04/you-cant-peg-non-traditional-student.html

Study Groups for Nontraditional Students
http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2007/11/study-groups-for-non-traditional.html

Here are some more articles to read:

Making Friends – from the Cal Tech Counseling Center
http://www.counseling.caltech.edu/articles/makingfriends.html

Here WikiHow’s How to Make Friends in College
This is for younger students, but many hints apply to nontrads as well.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Friends-in-College

Get to Know your College Professors…

This photo is from the free Microsoft art page

How do you get to know your college professors?

One way is to go to see them during their office hours. Ask them questions about your assignments. They will appreciate your extra effort in trying to do a good job on your assignments and learning.

Some students feel that talking outside of class to a professor means that you are trying too hard to make a good grade. I disagree. Most professors welcome questions and want to get to know their students.

Some professors stay a little bit after class to discuss questions with students. You can be one of those students if you don’t need to leave class right away for another class. Use this time to really know how to do an assignment, or make an appointment to see them later.

You will make points with your professor for asking any questions. “There is no such thing as a stupid question,” one of my professors used to say. The unsaid sentence was “People who don’t ask questions when they have them are the stupid ones…” Why? Because they won’t ever know the answers to their questions.

Why do it? Two More Good Reasons to get to know your professors

First, you will know more about what will be on the quizzes, tests, and exams by asking the professor about them. Professors feel more valued when they are asked questions, and their appreciation can spill over into better grades for you.

Secondly, you may want your professor’s help when it comes time to get a job. Those professors really do meet a lot of people, and know the plum jobs and assignments. Do you want a working assistantship or summer internship? There you go.

Find out more about this subject:

How To Get to Know Your College Professors
By Kelci Lynn at about.com

The College Board site’s advice

How to Get Along with Your College Professor
By Texas A & M’s Student Counseling Service

Reading good stories on nontrad blogs...

Some neat Nontrad blogs...

I have had many people tell me about their experiences as a nontraditional student. I have heard stories about jobs, family life, dorm living, meeting younger students, and much more.

These stories can be really fascinating - and can also be found online.

I have been looking at other blogs that nontraditional students are writing that have these kinds of good stories on them.

By reading these, I get to see how other students cope with their family responsibilities and going to school - - sometimes after a very long break.

Here are two of the most fun nontraditional student blogs I have read lately:

1. http://universitymama.blogspot.com/ - University Mama is a blog about a University Nontraditional student who is also (in her own words…) a:

“Wife, mom, photographer, full-time university student...and, surprisingly, still sane enough to write about it!”

This blogger just found out that her assignment is due a full week earlier than she thought! And the professor had already said the other date. This of course makes for some quick finagling. Typical nontrad stuff - - coping with last-minute changes that can happen with disorganized teachers.

2. “Old Dogs, New Tricks…” http://newsrecordnontradstudent.wordpress.com/ - this blog author recently talked about how this nontraditional student just wrote a note to her professor asking to bring her son with her to class.

This is just the sort of thing that nontraditional students often have to do… juggle childcare and classes, with no options if something ever happens to upset the applecart. Where is the emergency child care that is needed? I’m so glad she brought this issue up. It’s an issue all over.

But it’s fun to read these stories. It helps to know that nontrads all have these kinds of issues and have to deal with schedule changes and other problems as a day to day thing.

One of my other favorite nontrad blogs, College at Forty, http://collegeatforty.blogspot.com/, just decided NOT to go back to school right now. It sounds like money for school was one factor. I hope she gets to go later on.

So - enjoy these great nontrad blogs.

To find more, just google “nontraditional student blog” like I do every week or so, and check out all the new nontrad blogs out there. And please let me know which ones you like.

Until next time – Happy Nontradding!

More Exploring:
Check out the About.com nontrad page. I really like it because it changes all the time, plus it has a wealth of information and articles - plus links to even more of those good kind of stories about nontrads.

Here is that link:
http://adulted.about.com/

A Valentine for Nontrads

Rose photo by Saffrodite@morguefile.com

A Valentine for Nontrads…

For all the people back in school,
‘Cause they are smart and really cool –
They brave it out and try their best,
To study hard – they’re on a quest.

It can be done, the tests all aced,
The quizzes taken, fears all faced.
Just keep in mind the final goal,
Then let the good times really roll!

A happy Valentines Day too,
For every student old and new.
Just know that you are really brave,
A part of a great brand-new wave!

Finding Scholarships and Grants for School

THE FAFSA FORM
Most non-traditional students have heard of the FAFSA form, if they have applied for a government loan for higher education. There are now two more kinds of government grants available.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND LOANS
Many non-traditional students have already thought also of applying for scholarships or loans. Many of these people may have already applied for a special non-traditional scholarship from their college or university. But not every college or university offers these. That's why people need to register at other scholarship sites. It is NOT necessary to pay for these sites, although pay sites do exist.

GRANTS
Grants are really great if you can get them. Like most scholarships, you don't have to pay them back. My favorite grant website link on the nontrad page is the Dr. Torres site because it includes internships and little-known grants and programs for students AND teachers.

MAKING THE NONTRAD SCHOLARSHIP PAGE
When I was a non-traditional student some years ago, I wanted to look and see what scholarships and grants were available so I could list them for a non-traditional student group at Western Kentucky University. It was very important to me to list only FREE sites, since I could not afford to register at pay sites then or now.

I since have collected those sites and put them on a website. Here is the link:
http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html

MY FAVORITE SCHOLARSHIP SITE
There are many different sites to choose from. One of my favorites is FastWeb, because they email you about due dates and match you to a profile.

I WANT TO ADD MORE SITES
I want to collect even more sites, so if you have a favorite that is not listed, please let me know, and I'll go there to see if I should add it to the webpage. I hope you find some good leads! Nontraditional students today need all the financial help they can get. Good luck!