Educational Options for the Non Traditional Student

More and more people are returning to advance their education after having spent time in the real world learning the true value of formal learning. Because they are not going into college straight from high school and generally have responsibilities beyond being a student, they are termed as non traditional students.

The problem with categorizing non traditional students is that they have such a variety of differences within their ranks.

Some are married or unmarried, but have children to care nurture. Others have mortgages to pay. Most must work a significant number of hours each week to maintain their existence while completing their education. Often non traditional students cannot relocate for school. They often have to go school part time because of their family and job schedules. Options exist to assist them in their special requirements for flexible class schedules, shorter diploma or degree completion times, and classes that are convenient to where they live.

Accelerated class schedules can benefit the non traditional student.

Because non traditional students frequently are looking for a way to elevate their earnings potential in the shortest possible time, having semesters that can be completed in 6 to 10 weeks is a blessing. Their two year degree can be earned in a year or slightly more. Converting an associates to a bachelors degree can be done in two years going one or two nights per week. While the completion time is still similar, only taking one or two classes per semester allows the student to meet most other non school obligations. A masters degree is frequently set up to finish a year to year and a half.

Remedial education is available to returning students who have lost their school skills.

Two or three levels of writing and algebra below the college level are now offered by community colleges. Students who were not great in these subjects in high school or are just too far removed from those classes to be ready for college level work can learn the material while building up rusty study skills. Each layer of classes builds on the previous level. Once these are completed, the vast majority of students find it to be a baby step to take their first college level English composition or algebra course. Getting A’s or B’s in the lower classes also builds up confidence for the non traditonal student to continue with educational pursuits.

Distance and online learning classes facilitate the non traditional student’s educational goals to be reality.

For the motivated learner, distance and online classes can be the ticket to flexible class schedules. While some computer oriented classes are created with set class times, many are not. These classes allow students to log on to the system when their schedule allows. They can literally go to school during the day, evening, or night. Because flexible class schedules, they can mix and match class times to still be able to work and meet family needs. Motivation is the key to success in this mode of education.

Trade schools often offer a mix of classroom and on the job education.

For those who are entering a trade, these schools can be the ticket to advancement. You can learn to work on houses, cars, electric, heating and air conditioning, and a host of other options. Many of these programs will allow an internship for credit with local contractors and businesses that make an earn as you learn environment. The graduates frequently leave school to full time employment with the company that they served as an intern.

Sometimes parents, grandparents, or a spouse will be able to fund the non traditional student’s education.

This means that although these students are technically non traditional, they can enter the education ranks with a much more traditional approach. Especially those who are childless or have family members willing to bear the load of child care, they can schedule classes when they are available and move as a traditional student through the channels of education. Often, student loans and grants help make up a portion of the educational costs. Concessions sometimes have to be made within the family to free up study time for the student.

Seminars, workshops, and company funded education can benefit the non traditional student.

Some companies offer scholarships and time off from work to attend classes. Others offer tuition to seminars, conventions, and workshops where CEU’s (continuing education credits) can be earned. These credits along with job training and experience are accepted at some colleges in place of classroom instruction. These life experience credits sometimes are charged for at the same rate as classroom hours. Getting credit this way can earn a non traditional student 20 to 30 hours of education without the time investment. It can shorten the time to earn a degree by a year or more. This is often the difference between being able to earn a degree or not.

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Obama Commission Recommends End to Subsidized Student Loans

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has issued a report that recommends the elimination of subsidized federal student loans in order to reduce federal spending. The recommendation is one of 50 that the bipartisan panel, which was created by President Obama and charged with finding ways to reduce the federal deficit, brought forward.

Federal subsidized student loans are government-issued student loans on which the government pays —subsidizes — the interest while a student is in school or in an approved deferment period. During deferment periods, which are granted on a case-by-case basis when a student loan borrower is experiencing financial hardship or other extenuating circumstances, the borrower isn’t required to make principal or interest payments on his or her federal college loans.

Subsidized student loans, awarded on the basis of financial need, are available to low-income students and students from low-income families. The President’s fiscal commission estimates that eliminating the federal interest payments on these subsidized college loans would save about  billion annually.

The proposal to eliminate subsidized federal student loans isn’t a recommendation to shutter the federal student loan program altogether. Federally funded student loans are also available in an unsubsidized form, and these unsubsidized student loans are awarded to eligible students, regardless of income bracket, who qualify for federal college financial aid to help them pay for college.

Do Student Loan Subsidies Benefit Students?

A growing number of policy groups support dispensing with federally subsidized student loans. The College Board recommended the same move in 2008, and some Democratic lawmakers also included the elimination of subsidized student loans in the initial draft of the student loan reforms that were enacted in 2009. The provision was dropped after student advocates and higher education lobbyists successfully persuaded House Democrats to retain the student loan subsidies.

Supporters of dropping the subsidized interest benefit say that subsidized student loans don’t do anything to make college more accessible to the low-income students to whom the loans are awarded, since borrowers don’t reap the benefit of the subsidy until after they’ve graduated.

Others who support the move to do away with subsidized student loans argue that student borrowers shouldn’t receive a benefit designed to reduce student loan debt that’s based on what the borrower’s family income was 10 or 20 years earlier.

Instead, proponents contend, already-available flexible student loan repayment plans like income-dependent payments, graduated payments, and repayment term extensions are more effective and fairer.

A new income-based repayment plan, instituted last year, is based on the student loan borrower’s post-graduation income, a better measure of a borrower’s long-term financial outlook.

Graduated repayment, in which a student loan borrower’s monthly payments start out low and gradually increase every two years — designed for borrowers who expect their income to increase steadily over time — is available to all borrowers of federal college loans, regardless of their family income at the time they attended college.

More Proposed Changes to Federal College Financial Aid

Eliminating federal student loan interest subsidies isn’t the only change the fiscal commission recommends. The commission’s deficit-reduction proposal would also put an end to payments to colleges and universities for the administration of campus-based federal financial aid programs.

Colleges and universities administer certain federal financial aid awards locally —Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Perkins loans, and federally funded work-study programs. A school may retain as much as 5 percent of the federal financial aid funds provided for these programs to cover the cost of administration. Institutions that distribute federal Pell Grants also receive a small fixed payment to cover administrative costs.

Under the proposed deficit-reduction plan, the 5-percent administrative fee would be eliminated, and all federal funds would be delivered in the form of student financial aid, with no portion of those funds being siphoned away any longer in the form of administrative costs.

The commission’s rationale for eliminating these administrative fees is that colleges and universities benefit from federal grant programs because, unlike college loans, the federal grant dollars effectively increase enrollment by making college more affordable for students.

From Policy Proposal to National Law

The fiscal commission doesn’t have the final say on which recommended reforms are enacted. Currently, the commission’s report is in draft form. The commission must prepare a final recommendation no later than Dec. 1, 2010, and the final draft must have the approval of at least 14 of the commission’s 18 members.

Once the report is finalized and presented to the White House, legislators are expected to take up the recommendations and convert them into legislative mandates.

The commission’s recommendations are designed to balance the federal budget by 2015. If adopted, the recommendations would involve a broad set of austerity measures, including both spending cuts and tax reforms.

college loans, income-based student loan repayment, campus-based financial aid

Funding for the Canadian University Student

One of the best places to start searching for financial aid for Canadian universities is the CanLearn site, hosted by the government of Canada. Here, you will find a separate page which is devoted to Student Loans, Grants and Scholarships, the three external sources of financial aid for postsecondary education.

Tuition alone ranges from 00 to 00 a year at Canadian universities and the cost of room and board can easily triple those amounts. Government loans will not cover these costs completely, so the site also emphasizes planning ahead by using a personal savings program, personal income and scholarships.

As with American financial aid, student loans are issued through the government and are determined by financial need. Loans must be repaid.

Scholarships are awarded based on scholastic or athletic excellence or some special skill but most also calculate financial need into their determination.

In Canada, scholarships are divided into two areas: grants and bursaries. Grants are provided by the government based on proven need. Bursaries may originate from a government source, a private institution or organization or an academic institution. Neither of these two sources of funding must be repaid.

Apprenticeship Incentive Grant  (AIG)

This grant is provided through the Canadian government and awards 00 cash a year to a qualified apprentice who has completed the first and /or second year of a qualified Red Seal apprenticeship program. There are about fifty Red Seal trades and include everything from Cook, Roofer, Ironworker, Lather and Motorcycle Mechanic to Baker, Carpenter, Bricklayer and Powerline Technician. The small grant is helpful for partial coverage of tuition and needed supplies. For complete details about the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program, visit its website. For a complete list of Red Seal trades, read the .pdf pamphlet available here. To determine whether a student is eligible for the AIG grant and to apply for the grant, visit the Service Canada website.

Canada Study Grants and Canada Access Grants

These grants are awarded based on financial need. However, they are restricted to specific Canadian provinces. Students living in Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are not eligible for these awards. Awards range around 00 a year with a high of 00 for one grant category. There are five specific populations covered under these grants with eligibility criteria and application guidelines for each. These grants include the following: Students with Dependents, Students with Permanent Disabilities, Females Pursuing Doctoral Studies, Students from Low-Income Families and High-Need Part time Students. (Click on each link for details about the program.)

Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation bursaries

The government allocates up to 5 million a year in bursaries to students throughout Canada. Distributed through the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation, each grant averages 00 and is based on both merit and financial need. A note of caution: in 2008, the government decided to halt these bursaries, and no awards will be available after 2010. There is no formal application for these scholarships, as students are automatically considered when they apply for financial assistance.

Scholarships for studying abroad are also available through two separate programs: Government of Canada International Scholarships Program (graduate level only), Canadian Bureau for International Education, a non-governmental organization devoted to international education.

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