Older students thriving at Pitt

When you first think of an average college student, you might picture a 20-year-old girl… When you first think of an average college student, you might picture a 20-year-old girl with neatly styled, highlighted blond hair, blue eyes, tan skin and perfectly-manicured French nails.

She might carry a Dooney ‘ Burke purse, wear long silver earrings and dress in rolled-up blue jeans.

In fact, she will look very similar to Louise Yeiser, who has all of these characteristics except one. She is 55 years old, but she is still just your average college student.

“I’m not a real adult, though,” Yeiser insisted. “I’m a middle-aged adult. The whole grown-up concept is tough to get into.”

Yeiser, who is attending a university alongside her two sons, is one of the many adults who have chosen to go back to college. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the pattern of attending college from the ages of 18 to 24 has ended.

Today, approximately three-quarters of today’s college students are considered non-traditional in some way, according to the Chronicle. Non-traditional students are mainly classified as being older than 25, financially independent and sometimes married with children. Many of them also work at full-time jobs during the day and attend classes at night.

A second type of non-traditional student falls between the ages of 55 and 75. The Chronicle said that this group is made up primarily of retirees who are looking for a type of fulfillment that their jobs had not given them.

As Jane Micale, the assistant dean of Student Affairs at Pitt’s College of General Studies, likes to put it, they are “students who have assumed major life responsibilities,” and their numbers have increased since she began working at CGS 10 years ago.

CGS – whose average student is 26 years old – sees many non-traditional students majoring in social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. Some non-traditional students have transferred to Pitt and apply credits from other universities to their majors.

Other non-traditional students stopped attending college after they had assumed a major responsibility – such as having a child or assuming care of a sick parent-and then resumed classes again, either at Pitt or at another school.

In the past, Micale has asked many non-traditional students if getting a degree had changed their lives, and she said that every single student replied that it had.

“They don’t come here mainly to enrich themselves,” Micale said, “they come here to better themselves.”

But Micale said that because most non-traditional students have a deep commitment to do well in school, they sometimes become anxious and put added pressure on themselves to get good grades.

“They are never satisfied with a C,” Micale said. “B’s are OK, but they want to get A’s.”

Along with having binders full of testimonials from graduating students, Micale also has spoken with students personally about the successes of their education.

Before attending the end-of-the-year graduation ceremonies, Micale has talked with non-traditional students about their future plans and said that many of them hope to be promoted or transferred to a new department in their profession.

“Every single student is moving forward and bettering their lives,” Micale said.

But not every non-traditional student attending classes at Pitt is looking for a better job or a promotion.

Inside a crowded classroom in Posvar Hall, more than 50 students eagerly participated in a discussion about crime ethics and shooting tactics on Monday afternoon.

They are students in Professor Ron Freeman’s A Close Look at Crime class, and none of them want to be policemen when they grow up – mainly because most of them are retired.

The class is one of the many courses offered in Pitt’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute – a program for adults more than 55 years old.

The classes, which range from Women and the Bible to Frank Lloyd Wright to The Nuclear Energy Option, are divided into two sessions during the fall, spring and summer terms.

The program also allows its members to audit up to two undergraduate courses per term. In both the Osher classes and the undergraduate courses, members do not take tests or receive grades – an aspect that makes learning more enjoyable for many participants.

Joe Shirk, a 66-year-old retiree who used to work in sales and marketing, said that shorter classes and an absence of tests took away some of the pressure, allowing Osher students to focus more on the material and take more classes than an average student.

“It’s stimulating,” Shirk said. “You work all your life and do similar things. Here you can learn different things and meet different people.”

Joe, along with his wife Rosemarie, has signed up for a number of classes at Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University – some of which he has an interest in, and others that he has no knowledge about.

“I have no idea [about quantum physics],” Shirk said. “But then again, neither did Newton. He was completely wrong.”

Joe and Rosemarie graduated from different universities and they agree that college today is more fun than college in the past.

Freeman, a 68-year-old retired Pittsburgh police officer who has worked on cases ranging from arson to homicide, said that Osher students contribute more to classroom discussions than undergraduate students.

“[Osher students] are there because they want to be there,” Freeman said. “Undergraduate students are there because they want three credits.”

Freeman said that older students are better educated, and bring their life experiences into class discussions. They also challenge his lectures more than younger students, who think that speaking up will have a negative impact on their grade.

But Joe and Rosemarie, who have also audited courses through the Osher program, have been impressed with the maturity of some of the undergraduates.

“It’s fun to be with the younger students,” Joe said. “They say things we wouldn’t have said