by Linda Formichelli
It’s that time of the year when high school students are busy filling out applications, taking SAT exams, and polishing their interview skills as they vie for acceptance letters from the nation’s best colleges. But what will YOU be doing when fall rolls around? If you’re like thousands of other women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond, you’ll be thinking about hitting the books as well--even if your last experience in the classroom was in the days of Nehru jackets and tie-dye. And why not? College isn’t just for kids anymore. No matter what your age, a college education can boost you up the corporate ladder, increase your self-esteem, keep your mind sharp, and open up a world of opportunities in every area of life.
Still skeptical? Meet three women who are juggling jobs, families, travel, and classes to make their academic dreams come true.
When Lynn Johnson of Costa Mesa, California, got married in 1991, she passed on getting a college degree because she thought her husband would always be there to take care of her. A few years later, a newly-divorced Johnson was on her own thousands of miles from her home state--and finding it tough to prove herself in the workplace without a diploma.
Initially, Johnson earned her living as a receptionist at a PR firm, but when an account executive at the firm had to take an emergency maternity leave, Johnson seized the opportunity to prove herself to her higher-ups. “Management was skeptical about giving me a promotion without a degree, but I proved that I could do just as good a job as anyone else in that position,” she explains. “But for a long time I felt really, really bad about myself because I didn’t have the degree.” So at age 26, Johnson signed up for classes at Irvine Valley Junior College in Irvine, California.
“It was actually a little embarrassing at first,” she recalls. “I was intimidated because I thought people would look down on me. But there were a lot of people my age in the classes and a lot who were older than me.” Johnson soon realized that going to college as an adult has its advantages. “I’m really glad, looking back, that I waited to take these classes,” she says. “I think if I had gone right after high school, I would be like most kids in my classes nowadays--skipping class, or not paying attention to the lecture, or giving excuses as to why their assignments aren’t done.”
Of course, part of the kids’ lackadaisical attitude toward college may have to do with the fact that they can rely on the Bank of Mom and Dad to pay their way--while for older students, that free ride is a thing of the past. Fortunately for Johnson, the PR firm she works for, like many employers in this tight labor market, reimburses employees’ tuition costs. Even better, the firm doesn’t require that the college major be related to the employee’s job--and it also picks up the bill for books, a major expense.
Balancing classes, homework, and a full-time job is no easy feat. That’s why Johnson carries more tomes than the bookmobile. “If I have a doctor’s appointment, I take my textbook with me,” she says. “I always have my books with me and I always do homework when I can--on lunch breaks or whatever. It’s just become a part of my life.”
Ten years ago, Johnson thought she needed to be taken care of; now, she’s a confident, self-reliant career woman and scholar who has recently transferred to California State, Long Beach to pursue a degree in anthropology. And she’s learned a lot about herself in the process. “One of the best things I’ve learned is that I am actually intelligent,” she says. “I work well under stress and can juggle my career, school and home life relatively well. Before I began college, I used to make the excuse, ‘I don’t need to take a bunch of classes that just are not relevant to my life.’ I see now how ignorant that statement is. Everything I have learned so far has come up one way or another in my life.”
For Janice Gerle, college doesn’t mean blackboards and lecture halls--it means modems and computer desks. Gerle, who is retired, spends five months of the year in Florida but still manages to attend college at Syracuse University in upstate New York by logging on to the school’s cybercourses.
Right after high school, Gerle completed two years at the University of Rochester School of Radiologic Technology. While working as an x-ray technician over the next three decades, she continued to take a variety of classes here and there--until one day it dawned on her that with all the credits she had racked up, she was halfway to a college degree. “I always wanted to get my degree, so I promised myself I would do it before I turned 50,” says Gerle. “Fifty was the pivot point in my life. I was determined to get that degree and this felt like the right time.”
She applied for a program in Liberal Arts at Syracuse University, which is close to her hometown of Fayetteville, New York--and received her acceptance letter the day before her 50th birthday. Incredibly, the university gave Gerle credit for courses she had taken as long as 30 years ago.
The school’s cyberprogram requires Gerle to be on campus for only one week each semester--but during that week, she has to tough out two hours in the classroom daily for every course. “Some professors think their class is the only one you are taking and load up the homework for the next day,” she says. “If two or more professors do this, the study light stays on well into the night.”
Once she survives that intensive week, Gerle is home free. Instead of trekking to campus, she logs onto the Internet from wherever she happens to be, checks for new homework assignments, downloads the weekly lecture, and turns in her completed assignments by e-mail. She can even e-mail her professors when she needs help and hook up with other students via an online bulletin board.
This flexible program lets Gerle earn her degree while still carrying on an active social life with her husband. “I winter in Florida and we travel quite a bit,” she says. “If I were on campus, it would be impossible to do half of these things.”
Although studying at home sounds like a sweet deal, it’s not all easy A’s for Gerle. Besides having to tackle toughies like algebra, she’s had to discipline herself to study without the structure of a formal classroom. “If you’re doing the independent study program, you have to buckle down harder because it’s a lot easier to get distracted. I get up every morning at five o’clock and devote two hours to getting my studying done,” she says. Those early morning efforts have proven well worth the time. “I am now a better conversationalist,” she says. “I feel better informed and can enter into conversations without feeling self conscious. Often I can enlighten someone about the subject if it’s something I’ve studied.”
What advice does Gerle have for other campus-bound (and campus-not-so-bound) women? “You just have to get into the habit of doing the same thing every day,” she says. “Set aside a time for yourself. Let people work around you for once.”
Most students are accompanied by their proud parents during graduation; Janet Kendrick was escorted by her grandchildren. As the Boston native accepted her diploma and walked off the stage this past summer with her grandsons Aaron, 8, and Brandon, 5, they asked, “Does this mean we finished college, too?”
Kendrick, a single mother of two daughters, had taken a smattering of college courses in the decades after high school as she struggled to find her direction in life. She even went so far as to sign up full-time at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1982--but the demands of college and single parenting proved too much to handle. She left the college and later became program director at the Cambridge Community Center, which offers daycare, extracurricular activities and tutoring to kids under 14.
Kendrick’s second chance at academic success came in the unlikely form of an advertising flyer. Years after leaving Lesley College, Kendrick received a flyer from the college offering grants for people who work with children. Seeing the grant as an opportunity to contribute even more to the children at the community center, Kendrick excitedly filled out an application. Soon, she found herself in Lesley College’s adult baccalaureate program along with 30 other grant winners majoring in human development, the study of how individuals develop within families and communities over the course of their lives.
Although the program is dubbed an “adult baccalaureate program,” at first the other students--and even the professors--seemed like kids to Kendrick. “I was the oldest one,” she says. “I was even older than all my professors. It was like going to school with my children.” When her turn came to introduce herself to the class, Kendrick was painfully aware of the dozens of younger students silently appraising her. But her fears were unwarranted; Kendrick’s classmates appreciated her intelligence and wisdom, and at the college she developed friendships that have lasted to this day. Some of the students even called her “Mama Janet,” she says proudly.
Since the college’s adult program is designed to fit around students’ work demands, classes are held in the evening--often until ten at night. Some courses even take place on Friday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday! How did Kendrick manage this tough schedule? “I was blessed with lots of support,” she says. Her employer let her use a company computer for homework assignments and encouraged her to leave work early so that she could get to evening classes on time. Because she didn’t have a car, her boss often drove her to class, and one of her grown daughters picked her up afterwards. Her coworkers and friends proofread her papers on topics like “Teens and Smoking” and “Women at Work in the U.S.”
Studying human development has given Kendrick an edge in her job. “I’m very thankful for my major,” she says. “It’s helped me understand adolescents and like them better. Before, I didn’t want to deal with them because I didn’t understand them. Now, I know I work better with them because they give me more hugs.”
Kendrick enjoyed her college experience so much that she’s now working towards a master’s degree in creative arts and learning, which will help her blend music, dance, and other art techniques into her teaching style. Her only regret is that she didn’t start sooner. “Don’t wait until you’re 56,” she says. “You have to get a college degree now. I don’t care what age you are--just do it.”