Non-Traditional and Commuting Students Face Many Challenges

2/7/08

By Jennifer Ingram
Critic Staff

It is hard to balance school life with family life. “I am always finding it hard to give the attention that both equally deserve,” Diane Tanguay, a senior and non-traditional student at LSC, said. Tanguay lives in Orleans with her husband, her teenage son, and her daughter who is attending college in NC and majoring in Pharmacy.

About 30 percent of LSC’s student populations are non-traditional students or commuters. There are many social, educational, and economic challenges that non-traditional and commuter students face everyday such as:

Dealing with bad weather
Many students travel from the Derby-Newport and Orleans-Barton area and there are many days especially in the winter when the weather is different in the Derby-Newport and Orleans-Barton area than it is Lyndonville.

Many commuters feel as though it is not safe to travel to get to college, however, if they use their own judgment and do not attend class because of the weather situation they are penalized by their professors for not attending class.

It can be snowy and miserable in the Derby-Newport and Orleans-Barton area and then once over Sheffield Heights it can be totally clear and beautiful. There are many students who ask the question to themselves: At what point do you take a risk and travel over Sheffield Heights?

Cost of gas
With the cost of gas rising everyday there are many students who are feeling the affects. “Traveling from Orleans to Lyndonville five days this semester is putting a strain on my finances this semester due to the fact that gas is over $3 a gallon,” Tanguay said.
For many commuters it costs anywhere from twenty dollars to $50 a week to drive back and forth to classes that averages to be between $300 and $750 throughout the semester.

Social isolation
Being a non-traditional student can leave many isolated because they have other activities and responsibilities that they must juggle and tend to. For the most part, college students socialize after classes are done and they are doing something that they enjoy or participating in an extra-curricular activity.
The majority of non-traditional students are not involved in non-academic activities for the simple fact that they have families and responsibilities outside of college.

Difficulty with class structure
Many non-traditional students find it very difficult to transition back to school because they have been out of the routine of school for so long. Not attending classes for years many loose the skills that they learned in high school about taking notes. There are many professors who lecture very fast so as students you have to learn what is key information and write the information fast because the professors move at a rapid pace.