Reentry students face uphill battle
The growing needs of non-traditional students are beginning to get noticed on USU’s main campus, but there is still a lot to do, according to Patricia Stevens, director of USU’s Women’s and Reentry Student Centers on the main campus.
“We are not serving the population the way we need to,” said Two years ago, when Stevens became director, the Reentry Center only helped those categorized as “re-entry,” Stevens said.
According to the definition of the center, a reentry student is anyone who has had a 5-year gap in their formal education. This, then, refers to students age 23 or higher with a five-year gap returning for their undergraduate degrees, or 29 or higher with a five-year gap returning for graduate school.
Stevens said she hopes to broaden the range of students that the Reentry Center helps on campus. There are many with needs above and beyond that of the reentry and traditional student, she said. Traditional students are those who come to college right out of high school and are unmarried.
“What about students who are married, have children or may be caring for disabled parents?” Stevens said.
Other types of non-traditional students include such students as single mothers, single fathers with custody of children, parents who have to work full time to provide and go to school full time as well, veterans or students far older than the average student age on campus, she said.
The Reentry Center was established about 10 years ago, Stevens said, but originally combined with the Women’s Center, using the same phone lines and same personnel as the Women’s Center. The Women’s Center was formed in 1974 to address the growing needs of the female population on campus, she said. Stevens said according to what she heard, the Women’s Center was first located in a janitor’s closet.
Janet Osborne, who helped establish the center, directed it for 27 years and understood the needs of re-entry students, who at the time, were mostly female, Stevens said. She and others have helped make the Women’s Center what it is today, whose mission statement “is to serve all women.” Today, however, re-entry students include a balance of both men and women, Stevens said.
Many students may believe that scholarships through the Women’s and Reentry Center are available only to reentry women, Stevens said, but this is not true. Scholarships are available for both men and women if the student has at least a 2.75 GPA and meets the criteria of the individual scholarships, Stevens said.
Just last year, the Reentry Center became an entity of its own, she said, now having its own phone line and sign outside the door of room 315 in the TSC. Gary Chambers, vice president of student services, also provided the center with its first-ever independent budget to begin to address the concerns of re-entry and non-traditional students, she said.
“But with the 4 percent budget cut coming soon,” Stevens said, “I’m not sure what will be available next year.”
With the new budget, Stevens and her team at theReentry Center have begun to offer the following services:
Workshops
Free 2008 – 2009 monthly campus workshops on relevant non-traditional needs address the following: finding free software, time management, study strategies, parenting as a student, dealing with depression and stress as a student, and the power of positive thinking. More information is available about these workshops at the Reentry Student Center, 797-1702.
If a student cannot make the workshop, they can call the Reentry Center and will be given the URL to the workshop’s online location. The cost for the recording and online access to these workshops was waved by Ronda Menlove, USU’s vice provost, to aide the Reentry Center’s in its desire to help its students.
Child-care stipends
These stipends are for parents who care for preschool children over 50 percent of the time and need extra money to cover the cost of child care while studying for or taking mid-term and final exams. These are limited, so early inquiry and application is advisable. Applications and more information can be found at www.usu.edu/reentrystudent.
Mentoring/cooperative aid
Many reentry and non-traditional students may need extra help researching online or have a lot of computer questions, Stevens said, sometimes just feeling lost around campus. The center will evaluate the needs of a student and try to line up help to meet those needs with someone capable.
The center is also in the process of coordinating counseling groups with USU’s Counseling Center that will provide a place for non-traditional students to talk about common concerns, she said.
Coupon exchange
This program provides students in need with coupons to help assuage the high cost of everyday living. “There are an awful lot of students barely getting by,” Stevens said.
Students are welcome to come to the Reentry Center and ask for any coupons needed. Any student, USU staff or community member looking for a way to help those in need at the Reentry Center, can drop off any unused coupon pages.
“You don’t even need to clip them. We’ll do that for you,” said Stevens.
Reentry student lounge
Located in room 315, the reentry student lounge provides a safe place for students who may feel uncomfortable working next to their more techno-savvy counterparts in the computer labs. This room houses not only a computer, but a microwave and a brand new “extremely comfortable” lounge chair as well.
National Non-traditional Student Week
Just within the last few weeks, Stevens discovered a national week to recognize non-traditional students that occurs in November. She and others are hoping to plan a few events at the Reentry Center to celebrate this event for the first time here at USU.
Stevens recognizes that reentry and non-traditional students have a lot more needs to be met than the center can address right now. Such needs include social opportunities and child care, but meeting those needs is difficult.
“Time for these students is very limited; social events have to be worthwhile,” Stevens said.
Stevens said that an ASUSU Reentry Student Club once existed for a few years, but died out because of poor attendance. She has recently heard that some students are interested in starting it up again. In the past, the club has sponsored one activity a month and a fall and spring activity.
Stevens said she wants to have the Reentry Center sponsor a few activities, as well, like a quilting club. She hopes that such activities will allow non-traditional students to get to know each other and not feel so alone and out of place on campus. Stevens welcomes all to visit the Reentry Center and find out more about their services.
–jennifer.whiteley@aggiemail.usu.edu