The Connector
The Connector
SCAD Atlanta's main building. Photo by Seth Crowe.

By Nyasha N. Mandiveyi

Only 56 percent of students starting a four-year college degree program finish the required hours in four years, according to a 2010 USA Today report. This means that more than half of current college students could possibly face going back to school after a significant brek to finish their degree. According to some non-traditional SCAD students (usually an older or part-time enrolled student), a 15-year absence from college life is not unusual. They are married, raising children or working full-time jobs, which makes returning to college life difficult.

The biggest challenge for non-traditional students is being able to balance school, their families and their jobs. “I don’t have enough time to put my best foot forward,” first-year, photography student Musawi Al-Fassi said. “The work load is so much. It’s not what I want to do, but it’s enough where I can turn it in on time.”

Although SCAD attempts to cater to the needs of non-traditional students with evening classes and extra help sessions, some feel there is still a lot that needs to be considered. “I don’t live in the dorm, and I can’t be here 24 hours [a day],” second-year, television student Torva McClure said. “I have kids, and they’re not allowed onto campus. I have to constantly arrange for babysitting.”

After serving for 14 years in the Navy, Al-Fassi has agreed to become a guinea pig for the military, by going back to school while remaining active in his service. If the experience proves successful, it could open doors for others serving in the military to go to school. Al-Fassi’s college experience is very different from other students. He still lives on the military base, trains on weekends, and deploys two months out of the year, for at least two weeks. In cases like these, priorities have to be weighed.

“The military always comes first, regardless of how I feel about it,”Al-Fassi said. “Sometimes we are in the field doing exercises. I’ll be sketching in my pad, and at the same time, trying to instruct someone how to use a grenade.”

The SCAD club for non-traditional students exists to help students cope with these kinds of issues of balance. Although McClure is interested in the club, she says meeting times are inconvenient because of her family commitments. Even though family or work may come first, going back to school is still a necessity in order to remain relevant at their jobs.

With technology advancing every two years, some students feel the pressure to keep up with, or learn for the first time, modern technology that may not have been around when they initially went to school. “I enrolled to educate myself of new technologies,” said professor of animation Keith Ingham, who is also now a SCAD student. “I will have a higher degree, which means I can teach at a higher level.”

Often they are taught by professors much younger than they are. “Being older, you have a preconceived notion that you won’t fit into a non-traditional college,” said McClure. “I thought I would be the only one my age, but I have found several classmates who are my age, and some even older.”

However, as Ingham and McClure have learned, being older is not necessarily a bad thing. “I’m being inspired by young people,” McClure said, “and we [non-traditional students] bring more world experience to the classroom.”