LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
PROFILES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996 3C
Balancing school,family,jobs,keeps scholars in overdrive
OAKS helps students juggle multiple commitments
- Nontraditional students find help for their nontraditional challenges.
Darin and Shannon White, KU seniors from Lawrence, are considered nontraditional students because they are married. The fine arts majors' income doesn't exceed $15,000, so financial aid is a concern for them.
MIKE YODER/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
BY KATHLEEN McGEE SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL-WORLD
Gay Kemmis was afraid that her academic skills were too rusty. But she returned to school after six years in the work force because she realized that if she wanted to advance, she would need a degree
Kemmis also worried about how she would compare with students who had not spent time away from school. But, she said, "My fears were not realistic."
"Certainly I had fears, and most of them had to do with performance," she said. "How was I going to do in math? What about my writing ability?"
Kemmis is one of more than 4,000 full and part-time nontraditional undergraduates at Kansas University.
The university defines a "nontraditional" student as one who is married, a parent, a veteran, a student who is three years or more older than a "typical" student of the same year or one who commutes more than 10 miles, said Laura Morgan, academic adviser for OAKS, an organization for nontraditional students. About 25 percent of the undergraduate student body falls in at least one of those categories.
"Nontraditional students don't hang out on campus as much, so you don't get a sense of the numbers of nontrads by just walking across campus," Morgan said.
some nontraditional students with children.
Morgan, who also is assistant director of the Student Assistance Center, said that the questions
most frequently asked by people who are considering college as nontraditional students are how to manage financing, how to balance multiple commitments and how to deal with conflicts between family and academic expectations.
The best advice she could give any student, but especially nontraditional students, was, "Ask questions."
Special circumstances
The Student Assis-
"Nontraditional students don't hang out on campus as much, so you don't get a sense of the numbers of nontrads by just walking across campus."
The Student Assistance Center provides a number of brochures and other materials written for nontrads, such as "Dependent Care Referral Service" for child and elder care.
— Laura Morgan, OAKS academic adviser
What should a parent do if he or she can't go to class because of a sick child?
Morgan said that most of the university's nontraditional students are single and want to make connections on campus and in the city not necessarily dates. But about 950, or 25 percent, of nontraditional students are parents, and they worry more about issues dealing with child care.
"It's important that students understand the faculty outlook on that," Morgan said. "The university policy — if there is one — is that students are expected to attend the class."
Brenda Maigard, assistant director of financial aid, said that there is extra help available for
Morgan said that it was important for students with children to plan "back-up" baby-sitting in the event of illness and to ask individual professors ahead of time what their own policies were regarding absences.
"A child care grant is available for any student with a child who was born on or after Sept. 2, 1991," she said.
The form, "Application for Child Care Grant," usually is available on Sept. 1.
In addition, the financial aid office has a "Special Circumstances" form for students, with or without children, whose income is reduced because of quitting work or reducing work hours to come to school. That form also applies to increases in
"non-discretionary" expenses, such as extraordinary medical expenses.
Financial aid is figured from tax returns for the previous year, so students whose income (including spouse's income) will be significantly reduced should ask for the "Special Circumstances" form when they pick up the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Maigaard said that completing the FAFSA was the required first step in applying for and receiving any financial aid, including the Child Care Grant and the Special Circumstances form.
Jugglimg act
"We were concerned because, being married, we were considered independent," Shannon White said. "We knew we'd have to work quite a bit and go to school."
Financial aid was just one of several concerns for nontraditional students Darin and Shannon White. Both Lawrence seniors majoring in fine arts, the Whites have been married for almost two years.
Darin White said that juggling schedules was difficult. It was
hard to balance all the school activities with job schedules and housework — and still have time for each other.
Shannon White works as a studio assistant to a local artist. Darin White works for E&E Display Group and for an associate professor in the School of Fine Arts. Each works from 15 to 18 hours a week, and their combined income doesn't exceed $15,000. They are ineligible for a Pell Grant.
To help them stretch out their income, their parents help out occasionally with the rent. Also, the Whites take classes together whenever possible and buy only one set of textbooks to share for those classes.
The Whites worried about the effect student life would have on their marriage. But they have learned one of the prime tools of time management: prioritizing.
"We literally make lists and schedules," Shannon White said. "We do as much together as we possibly can."
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Gay Kemmis said that her husband, who also is considering enrolling at KU to complete his degree, has been supportive. She said that students, especially married students, need that support.
Support system
TOM: And too much oil can be bad, too. If the oil level gets high enough 90 that it touch crankshaft, the oil will get whipped into a foam, kind of like the filling in
**RAY:** Yes, you're right to worry about them. Skip. Of course, it would be much more productive to actually do something about them. But worrying's a good start.
"The people around you need to understand that you are committed to that goal." Kemmis said.
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Her professors have been understanding, Kemmis said. They, too, have been supportive, encouraging and flexible when Kemmis has been unable to complete an assignment on time or has had to miss class because of work.
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Kemmis advised people to think carefully about returning to school when they had other responsibilities.
"Don't do it unless you really want it," she said. "It's going to be difficult."
must sometimes do without and hope they can get through college without a serious illness.
Nontraditional students worry about the difficulties they might encounter. Such concerns don't surprise OAKS adviser Laura Morgan.
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JOURNAL-WORLD
"Getting an education is a complex thing," Morgan said. "KU is a complex institution."
Kemmis said that most nontraditional students will encounter additional financial stresses that high school students don't face having to find health insurance, for example.
But nontraditional students
"Many high school students are covered under their parents' policies, or their parents pay for student insurance," she said.
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