In Fall Semester 2015, there were about 10,000 undergraduate students above the 17- to 23-year-old age range at all of OU’s campuses.
Despite being 42 years old, Sacha Vess said she feels like she is 20 again.
Like thousands of Ohio University students, Vess is a nontraditional student who has returned to college to get a bachelor's degree.
“It’s very different (being a nontraditional student),” Vess, a fifth-year senior majoring in environmental nutrition, said. “I went (to college) as a traditional student, so I know both.”
Nontraditional students can be defined by several factors, according to the the National Center for Education Statistics, including:
- Not immediately continuing education after graduating high school
- Being financially independent
- Attending college part time
- Working full time
- Having dependents other than a spouse
- Being a single parent
- Having a GED instead of a high school diploma
In Fall Semester 2015, there were about 10,000 undergraduate students above the 17 to 23-year-old age range at all of OU’s campuses, according to OU’s Office of Institutional Research.
Due to advances in technology, which Vess has had a hard time catching up to, and time constraints, Vess said being a nontraditional student is more difficult for her. When the Glouster native is not in class, Vess is caring for her 24-year-old daughter, Savannah, who has cerebral palsy, autism and epilepsy.
“I have a disabled daughter so I’m limited when I can study, when I can schedule my classes,” she said. “I have to do everything around her schedule. ... She's kind of difficult, but she's a lot of fun too.”
After graduating from high school, Vess originally attended OU but transferred to Hocking College where she received an associate's degree in medical assisting. She later went back to Hocking and got associate's degrees in dietary management with culinary arts. However, Vess's goal was to earn a bachelor's degree.
“I decided I want to do something more with my life,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to graduate from OU. It’s kind of been a goal of mine, so I decided to transfer and go on.”
Heather Harmon, an instructor in OU's Department of Social and Public Health, knows firsthand what it’s like to be a nontraditional student. She went to the University of Cincinnati for three years, but did not finish her degree.
“I started working and realized that life was miserable if you don’t have a degree and actually do the stuff you really want to do in life, and so I decided to go back,” she said.
Harmon got a job in financial aid and registration at Wilmington College and graduated at the age of 31 with a degree in history.
“I got married and had a baby while going to school and it was a lot of work,” Harmon, who has Vess as a student this semester, said.
After getting her bachelor's degree, Harmon went to Wright State University for her master’s in public health.
“Trying to squeeze a full-time (class) load into a full-time work schedule, plus having family and your spouse has a job — it’s tough," she said. "So I feel for my nontraditionals today.”
This semester, Harmon said she has three nontraditional students in her classes and has noticed nontraditional students rarely miss class.
“(Nontraditionals are) ready for school,” Harmon said. “They want it to happen whereas my traditional students, I’m lucky if half of them show up to class sometimes.”
Thad Ousley, 46, a sophomore studying health services administration, is one of the nontraditional students in Harmon’s class.
“It’s a good feeling to walk around and actually be a student here even though it’s 20 years later,” Ousley, who is in his first semester back, said. He previously went to the University of Rio Grande for a few quarters before attending OU years later.
“(Being a nontraditional student is) not as big and scary as some people probably think it is,” Ousley, who hails from Wellston, Ohio, said.
Linsey Groeneveld, a senior studying political science, had a nontraditional student in her political science course her freshman year.
“It was really interesting because he would bring his perspective (to class). ... A lot of social issues we talked about, he had encountered,” Groeneveld said.
The student in her class actively participated in class discussions, Groeneveld said.
“I think it’s really great that people get a chance to either continue their education or pick it up where they left off or whether they’re starting new,” Groeneveld said.
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Vess said she plans to graduate next spring and wants to be a health inspector.
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“I try to give myself that little extra boost by getting to know the professors and making sure what I’m doing is what they want,” she said. “I don’t really feel like the mom of the class, although (students) probably look at me that way. I just kind of see myself as being one of them.”
@megankhenry
