According to the Iowa State University Fact Book, Iowa State has more than 1,800 undergraduate students who are not in the traditional age group. Ranging from 12 to 65 years old, these students come from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. A nontraditional student could be a younger student taking university courses or an older student coming back to finish a degree after taking time off to have a family.

These students face many challenges not experienced by traditional students. They may have to balance college-level courses with junior high school-level courses, or arrange their schedule in order to pick up their children from daycare. They may have to sacrifice something else in their lives, like family time or a job they love, in order to meet their goal of earning a degree.

Even though the term “nontraditional student” encompasses all these different students, their experiences as students at Iowa State are very different.

Parents and upper-age group

Cherene Jordan is a 26-year-old single mother. Besides being a parent, Jordan is also considered nontraditional because of her age.

Jordan decided to return to school after a series of unfulfilling jobs.

“I wanted to be better, to do more than just typing for a living,” said Jordan, senior in child and family services. She said she wanted to set a better example for her daughter, 6-year-old Laura.

Between attending classes, studying and taking care of her daughter, Jordan also finds time to lead her daughter’s Girl Scout troop, be a co-leader for Women’s Awakening, a student organization for women balacing higher education and family, and volunteer at ACCESS, a women’s shelter in Ames where Jordan answers the crisis hotline.

This isn’t Jordan’s first experience with higher education. She attended Des Moines Area Community College after graduating from high school, but stopped after a short time.

Jordan enjoys going to school at Iowa State, but feels different than other students.

“I would say I am just not able to experience college life the way a traditional student does,” Jordan said. “I can’t go to the library in the middle of the night if I needed to. I can’t get involved in social activities, or even stay at school late.”

Jordan feels that nontraditional students are a minority on campus, and because they’re a minority, they don’t get equal treatment.

The recent funding cuts to programs that affect nontraditional students, such as the elimination of the Off Campus & Adult Student Services, made her feel this inequality, Jordan said.

“What I don’t like about it is it doesn’t show support for our kind of groups,” Jordan said.

However, not all nontraditional students experience inequality of treatment.

Angie Stone, 37, is also a nontraditional student at Iowa State. There are many differences between Stone and traditional ISU students that set her apart – not just her age or the fact that she is a parent.

“Well, just the fact that I’m not just out of high school makes my age separate me from the main population,” Stone , junior in animal science, said. “I don’t just feel different, I am different.

“Also, compared to most other traditional students, they don’t have the amount of responsibility that I have. Other aspects of my life – kids, aging mother, domestic situations, etc. – demand time that traditional students get to spend having fun with their friends or in a hobby.”

And although these differences may set her apart from her classmates, Stone has never felt discriminated against at Iowa State.

“I haven’t seen any students here discriminated against on the basis of age, and all of them – both young and old – have to complete the same requirements,” Stone said.

Although she had been earning credits towards her degree in professional agriculture through the distance learning program, this is her first semester on the ISU campus.

Stone’s decided to pursue a degree in animal science, which wasn’t available through distance learning, and made the decision to come to Iowa State and pursue her goal.

Stone said it has been a difficult transition for her, but one that has been made easier by the faculty and staff at Iowa State

“The staff and faculty at Iowa State are the most service-oriented group of people I’ve ever been able to work with,” Stone said.

One member of the faculty in particular has been a great resource for Stone. Helen Olson, academic advisor in the agricultural education and studies department, was Stone’s advisor for her professional agriculture program. Stone said Olson was more than an academic advisor, she was a personal advisor as well.

Stone’s main focus in getting her degree is being able to make a good home for her children. Stone has two daughters – 1-year-old Sydney and 5-year-old Katelyn – who are residing with their father in Mississippi. It was hard leaving her children behind, but other than that, her only real difficulty has been in relearning study habits.

“There is a certain discipline required for students to learn. I had to learn to `compartmentalize’ so that I could focus on my studies and not let distractions interfere,” Stone said. “Other than that, pursuit of my degree is actually easier now than before because I have someone depending on my success in it – Katelyn and Sydney, my two little girls. Children depending on you to be a successful and strong role model and source of support is all the motivation I needed to do whatever I had to do to get into the swing of things.

“A single mother is not going to provide for two children without a college degree,” Stone said.

Stone said she hopes to be able to bring her daughters to Ames soon because she thinks it is such a great environment for children.

“I really do love it here, and my children are going to get to enjoy it too,” Stone said.

Young students on campus

Although students under the age of 17 are fairly rare – only 33 of them enrolled as of last November – they are on campus. Mattias Gassman, 12, started taking courses at Iowa State last fall.

According to an earlier article in the Daily, Gassman’s first ISU class was Latin 101, and is intending to enroll in the Latin 201 course in the fall. Gassman has also taken courses at DMACC, including college-level math.

Mattias’s father, Philip Gassman, is an assistant scientist at the Center For Agricultural and Rural Development. Gassman said they were always looking for opportunities for Mattias to branch out. Mattias is home-schooled by his mother, Crigitte Gassman, and is chronologically going into the seventh grade, but she said that he performs at a higher level than that. Gassman said that they think Mattias will continue taking Latin classes and possibly branch out to another foreign language in the future.

This summer Mattias attended the national spelling bee, where he tied for 15th place Gassman said. The rest of his summer will be spent traveling and swimming. Mattias said he would go to Boy Scout camp before gearing up for the fall.

-Additional reporting by Erin Randolph