I Never Going to College Ever Again
There are hundreds of books about picking the best college. But permit'due south face information technology: Most of them are written for high schoolers. In reality, 40 per centum of higher students are 25 or older — well out of high school — and many take kids, full-fourth dimension jobs or both. (We've written about this earlier.)
Now, a new book by Rebecca Klein-Collins offers advice and guidance for the adult pupil looking to go to college.
"In that location are hundreds if not thousands of colleges out there that are really not designed for the developed learner," Klein-Collins says. "So someone who is a decorated working person shouldn't really waste matter a moment looking at those kinds of colleges."
But there are schools that do a great job educating older adults, she explains in Never Also Late. The volume offers answers to persistent questions, like, "What do I do if it's been ages since I took algebra?" or "I have a few higher classes under my chugalug — how exercise I get those credits to count?"
Klein-Collins spoke to NPR most the logistical hurdles adults face up in college, and how to overcome anxieties around going dorsum to schoolhouse. The post-obit interview has been shortened and edited for clarity.
Never Likewise Late
The Developed Pupil's Guide to College
Paperback, 376 pages |
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Who are these adults looking to go to college?
They're people who might have started higher right after high school, just never finished. They might take had a lot of actually corking work experience and can't afford to quit their jobs in order to get back to school. They might have military service. Perhaps they've received some technical training and leadership experience. Maybe they are raising a family.
These are all people who are actually good candidates for going back to schoolhouse. And these are the kinds of people you run across in classrooms these days. It's non that unusual.
What are some of the logistical hurdles these folks face?
If yous're a working adult, you're not going to quit your chore to go back to school. Of course, some people tin can and that's great, just a lot of people can't. And then you need to detect a college that has flexible programs that offer classes after hours or on weekends; or a school that offers composite learning — online and face-to-confront — that you tin can fit into your busy work life. There are other colleges that have shorter terms or terms that start at different points of the traditional school twelvemonth, and then it allows a lot more than flexibility for taking on courses when they fit into your life.
Where tin adults turn for communication on going dorsum to college?
Adults are really on their own in trying to figure this whole affair out because there isn't a system in place that's helping them make these decisions. They can't become back to their high school and get advice from their erstwhile guidance advisor or their kids' guidance advisor. So even though there's a lot of lip service paid to the importance of lifelong learning and it's a no-brainer to become back to school and to get a caste, the real amazing thing is that we don't have a system that'south prepare up to help people make skillful decisions about going back to school.
In an platonic world, we would have a whole network of career and education advisors available to every American. And that'southward something that'southward really needed, but we don't have that right now. The more means we can provide adults with guides or tips or resource to assist with their controlling, the ameliorate — considering it'southward so of import to avoid costly mistakes.
What practise adults starting this process need to know?
First thing I want them to know: Even though a family fellow member might have gone to a certain college or university, that doesn't necessarily mean information technology's going to be the right option for them. Certainly enquire people you know for their guidance, only go along in mind that you need to do your own research.
No. 2: Find a place that acknowledges who yous are at this stage in your life. And that tin manifest itself in a number of dissimilar means. It can mean that a school is not expecting y'all to drop everything and get to schoolhouse full-time; they sympathise that you have work and family unit obligations and they assist design a plan that's going to fit into your decorated lifestyle. It could as well mean a program that actually acknowledges the various experiences that students are bringing to the classroom — and so instructors are not merely bold that you're coming correct out of high schoolhouse, but that you lot have learned from your ain life — and they run into that feel has relevance in the classroom that can contribute to the form in a very unique mode.
Tertiary, look for places that take something called a "prior learning assessment." This is a method for evaluating a student'southward [knowledge] that they've acquired from piece of work or life or military feel. Some colleges use tests, like the CLEP, to accolade college credit; others have faculty members create a special exam based on a course; while other schools have a educatee put together a portfolio of their learning with documentation, and have that evaluated by a faculty member for higher credit. Information technology's really important for somebody who has had a lot of work experience or has had a lot of war machine grooming; information technology can actually assistance you end your degree a whole lot faster and a whole lot cheaper.
What are your tips for helping adults overcoming their anxieties around going back to school?
A lot of people are nervous about information technology and are envisioning being the oldest person in the form. This is a totally normal thing to exist feeling, only information technology'south OK, you lot're gonna exist fine, and there are colleges that volition help you lot succeed.
The book offers some tips for how to build back up at home for what you're trying to do. It includes some exercises to help yous recognize all the skills that you already have — this includes time management, attention to particular, things like that.
The other important thing to do is to help adults identify why they want to get back to school. If you tin identify what information technology is that's motivating you, so that can exist your rallying cry when you're starting to feel discouraged or anxious most starting schoolhouse.
So in addition to really helping adults ask the correct questions nigh what kind of higher is going to support me and be a good fit for me, information technology's also helping them really understand why it is they are doing this.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2018/12/23/678799694/in-never-too-late-finally-a-guide-for-adults-going-to-college
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