Nicole Robinson

Junior Joan Crane spends the majority of her time on campus in a building familiar to nearly every art student – Haas Fine Arts Center.

When she’s not in classes, she’s either working in the Foster Art Gallery or busy working on homework.

While her day seems similar to that of any typical art student, there is something about Crane many students don’t know.

She’s a 60-year-old non-traditional student.

“I really was kind of intimidated at first and worried about being that much older and going back to school,” Crane said about being in school for the first time in 15 years.

Now that she’s returned to school, she said she plans to pursue her love for art.

“My experience here has been very positive,” Crane said. “I feel like it’s just the best thing I’ve ever done for me, personally.”

Crane is just one of the 1,328 non-traditional students on Eau Claire’s campus this fall that comprise roughly 15 percent of the student population, said Bonnie Isaacson, the non-traditional Student Services adviser.

From Monday to Friday, campuses across the nation are celebrating Non-traditional Student Awareness Week, she said.

A non-traditional student, Isaacson said, can be defined as a student 25 years or older or one younger than that who either is a parent, is married or both.

Junior Lori Scardino, 27, fits all the criteria that denotes a nontraditional student. When she finished high school in 1995, she enrolled at UW-La Crosse as an undeclared major. The sudden death of her father, however, changed everything, she said.

Scardino left La Crosse to take care of her younger siblings, she said, but before she could go back to school, she already had started her own family. It wasn’t until her two children started attending school that she decided to do the same.

“You sacrifice a lot financially when you come back to school,” Scardino said. “We’re paying to come here rather than being paid to do something.”

Isaacson said non-traditional students also face the challenge of adjusting to school again and having different commitments.

As far as budgeting time, though, Scardino has found a way to handle many things. She is a full-time student, works two part-time jobs, volunteers for numerous organizations and cares for her children.

“Free time is a true luxury,” she said.

Non-traditional students also can have an impact on others in the classroom, Isaacson said. Senior Amanda Hoffelder said non-traditional students can give classmates insight on how to succeed at the college level.

“They seem to be more organized and more on top of things,” she said. “They seem to come back to college with a purpose.”

Senior Marjean Rude, 52, said she wasn’t pleased with the time slots for classes, as she had to work part-time rather than full-time because most of her classes were in the morning, not at night.

Despite this, Scardino said each non-traditional student has his or her own set of circumstances to overcome.

“We just have a different perspective on things,” she said. “We are here because we really want to be here. We want to succeed.”