Sunday, October 17, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Older students find haven at CCSN

But nontraditionals are exception in system

April Marquez has worked for In-N-Out Burger for 12 years, but she's also pursuing a degree in nursing. The 29-year-old is one of the state's nontraditional students, those who didn't go to college straight out of high school. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

April Marquez suffered through blows from an abusive boyfriend. She has worked for 12 years at a burger restaurant and is raising two children.

Marquez, 29, is also a student at the Community College of Southern Nevada, training to be a nurse.

Her position as a full-time mother, breadwinner and part-time student isn't unique. She is one of Southern Nevada's nontraditional students, those whose high school graduation didn't lead straight to college.

Those older than 24 comprise about half of CCSN's student body and at that of similar institutions throughout the Southwest. The region, higher education officials say, has a large service industry that offers plenty of good-paying jobs that don't require a post-secondary degree.

But in Nevada's entire higher-education system, nontraditionals are the exception. Most students fall into the 18- to 24-year-old demographic, tend to live on campus, join clubs and have family members who also attended college. Working-age adults, age 25 to 49, comprise 4.5 percent of all Nevada higher education students, slightly less than other Southwestern states.

Their enrollment numbers fluctuate with the economy. In Nevada, the number of students age 25 to 49 has decreased by 17 percent over the past 10 years.

"Community colleges, they're a very good barometer of national economic conditions," said Community College of Southern Nevada President Richard Carpenter. "If things are about to get worse, you start to see an increase in the nontraditional students. If things are getting better, you start to see a drop."

He said this year's decrease in CCSN's nontraditional population is an indicator the economy is improving. Students older than 24 decreased by about 4 percent, according to enrollment records.

But Carpenter said the college has also inadequately marketed itself to older age groups as well.

In an effort to attract more working students, he has hired a new marketing director to work on CCSN's Web site and advertising.

Carpenter also is considering starting Friday classes to better accommodate nontraditional students.

"I think that might be an untapped potential," he said. "I hate to see us with empty classrooms on Fridays."

CCSN courses typically run Monday through Thursday. Friday classes that last several hours might be more convenient for students with full-time jobs, Carpenter said.

The school now offers night and weekend classes that last until 10 p.m. to accommodate work schedules.

"I really have so much respect for nontraditional students and what they go through," Carpenter said. "They are unsung heroes."

This fall marks Marquez's third year at the college and her first semester as a nursing student. She's on track to graduate in May 2006.

She gets up at 5:45 a.m. to get her 3-year-old son, 8-year-old daughter and herself to school. On average she spends about 18 hours a week at school and 25 to 30 hours a week working her $11-an-hour job at In-N-Out Burger. There is no weekend for Marquez.

"I have an inner drive. I'm not going to let anything stop me from going," she said. "I went back to school because I wanted to have security."

She has worked at In-N-Out for 12 years and doesn't mind the grease and the pay. The job taught her how to communicate with people, she said, and has given her the confidence she needed to go back to school.

She spent five years with an abusive boyfriend who put her in debt. "Even now," she said of the fear she feels, "I'm constantly looking over my shoulder."

After leaving him, she jumped into marriage with a man she met over the Internet, explaining she was looking for love and stability. That ended in divorce.

Now, she's found the determination to start school as a single parent.

This month she received a scholarship from Valley Hospital Medical Center. She also receives federal Pell Grants and a substantial college loan from a local bank.

"Money, you need to live," she said. "But it's not important."

Her children are.

They decorate their brown paper lunch bags together before school with markers. They go swimming and have pillow fights. But by the end of their day, Marquez usually has to start studying.

Giving up good-paying jobs, cutting employment hours, or having large loans are deterrents to those thinking about returning to school, said Pat Mathews, director for Adult Educational Services, a federal program based at UNLV.

"There is not a lot out there for nontraditionals in school because the majority of people who donate for scholarships donate for the high school seniors," Mathews said.

Mathews, 60, was born in a mining dominated region of the country, which she said, has some parallels with Las Vegas.

"Education in Harlan County, Kentucky, is not big on the list of things that people do out there. Why would you need an education if you're a coal miner?" she said. "A lot of people make good money here in Las Vegas without having a college education. We're all aware of it."

She dropped out of Hollywood High School in California in the 10th grade and now has a doctorate in history. She said she likes to tell her story to those who doubt they can return to school.

"It took me years to understand that an education opens all the doors, and that nothing else could do that for you," Mathews said.

Potential students come to her office looking for clues to begin what often is a mystical process of entering higher education institutions.

Her program is open to anyone age 19 or older who wants to learn how to apply, file for financial aid and handle life while getting an education.

"We have around 300 nontraditional students (in the program) at UNLV but we have probably five times that amount who are at CCSN and will transfer," Mathews said. "Ninety-nine percent of our participants are first-generation, low-income students."

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas estimates it has about 5,000 nontraditional students enrolled. But access to the university might diminish in years to come.

Higher education officials are pushing to increase enrollment standards at UNLV to level out attendance and allow the school to focus on its graduate and doctorate level programs.

As that happens, Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers said those returning to education after years away will probably have to look elsewhere.

"They need to go to either the community college, which will fit their needs, or to the Nevada State College," Rogers said. "You can't try to make an absolute rule on anything, but in general what we want at a university is the cream of the crop."