Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: News

Mount Pleasant senior Niky Bean, 38, writes down some notes during her JRN 404: Law of Mass Communication class. Bean is surrounded by students who study similar subjects, but are far from the same. [Click to enlarge]

Bean works on some reading for her class, JRN 404: Law of Mass Communication, at the Charles V. Park Library. "It's good to have dialogue with different perspectives and age range," Bean said. [Click to enlarge]

Niky Bean already has her bachelor's and master's degrees from CMU.

But with today's job market being so competitive, she believes more skills may be needed to compete.

"The economy is bad; it made sense to come back," said the Mount Pleasant senior.

The number of nontraditional college students is on the rise at CMU.

Statistics from CMU's Institutional Research show there are 407 students enrolled at CMU whose ages range from 30 to 83 with 345 students seeking a degree.

Bean believes returning to school has changed her learning experience for the better.

"I feel I have learned so much having been through this before," said Bean, a public relations major.

Bean, who has also taught at a community college, said she feels many nontraditional students are going to school to sharpen their skills and learn new ones.

Director of Undergraduate Programs Al Zainea said nontraditional students bring a breath of knowledge to the classroom.

"They bring a level of experience that other traditional students can pick up on," he said. "They can provide the dos and do not's so that traditional students can succeed."

The suffering economy is not the only reason for nontraditional students to come to CMU.

"Many students come to school for their own personal enrichment," Zainea said. "This is something that they always wanted to do, but were never given the opportunity."

Institutional Research shows the programs nontraditional students are enrolled in are diverse, including majors such as art, Spanish, history and music.

The majors most nontraditional students are enrolled in, however, are psychology and communication disorders.

CMU aims advertising at nontraditional students.

"We have a call center staff available to work with students, as well as an association that will network with individuals in large groups," Zainea said.


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