Non-traditional student

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Non-traditional student is an American English term referring to students at higher education institutions (undergraduate college or university) who generally fall into two categories:

Students who are older than the typical (usually aged 17-23) undergraduate college student, and had interrupted their studies earlier in life
Students typical of age but attending colleges or programs that provide unconventional scheduling to allow for other responsibilities and pursuits concurrent with attaining a degree.

1 Population
2 Programs
3 Colleges
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Population

Older students may be returning to school for a number of different reasons: some pursued unconventional career paths while others are training for a career change; some may have had to wait to enter college due to military service, while others simply waited a few years instead of entering directly after high-school. Some women who have been stay-at-home mothers and return to college after their children begin kindergarten or have left the home.

Younger students of common college-age may be Olympians or professional athletes, actors, dancers, and other performers as well as other professions who choose to forgo the "traditional" college for a non-traditional course of study in order to facilitate or accommodate that career while pursuing a degree. Still other reasons may influence a younger student to pursue a non-traditional course of study - no justification is necessary to attend.

[edit] Programs

Programs for non-traditional students include options for both full-time and part-time study, though both choices are not necessarily available at every institution. Many colleges offer programs within their regular curriculum to serve non-traditional students. In particular women's colleges offer programs for older women who would like to return to school, such as Agnes Scott College's Irene K. Woodruff return-to-college program, Mount Holyoke College's Frances Perkins Program, Simmons College (Massachusetts)'s Dorothea Lynde Dix Scholars Program, Smith College's Ada Comstock Scholars Program and Wellesley College's Davis Degree Program.

Programs have become more common-place, extending even to colleges in Ivy League universities. Yale University hosts a non-traditional student option through its Eli Whitney Students Program. Whitney Students are wholly absorbed into Yale College. This program, which is very small and therefore highly competitive, is one of the four methods of entry into Yale College (the other three being freshman, international, and transfer admissions). Whitney Students earn the Yale College B.A. or B.S. Brown University also hosts a similar program called Returning Undergraduate Education, and the Harvard Extension School at Harvard University fulfills a similar role.

[edit] Colleges

A few select degree-granting colleges (not merely "programs" within an existing college) are oriented entirely towards non-traditional students. Examples include the Fordham College of Liberal Studies at Fordham University, and the Columbia University School of General Studies. Students at these colleges may take all of their courses with other non-traditional students, or may share class with students from other colleges in the repective university.