After Divorce, Go Back to School

    What do you do after getting divorced, when things may seem the end of the road? Going to college is one option for new divorcees to get back into life with a fresh start.   

Divorcees may be returning to college after many years or starting their post-high school education for the first time.  "...There's no question that it is much more difficult for students who have been out of high school or for students who have dropped out of college to come back," said Phil Caffrey, senior associate director of admissions at Iowa State University.  

A total of 39 percent of all college students are age 25 or older, according to an article published in American Demographics in November 2002. About 75 percent of students live off campus, with 80 percent working.   

"Usually, people go back to learn a new skill set or change careers. Other people will go back if they feel they missed out," said Mary Berg, an admissions counselor at Loyola University in Chicago, Ill. 

College may seem scary for non-traditional students, according to Caffrey.  "When students enter the world of work, they have car payments, house payments, rent. They get sucked into all of those financial obligations, so it becomes very difficult for them to go back to college eventually and either have to quit their job or go to college part time," he said.

Also, older students have other concerns while they're attending school, which makes returning more complicated. "People ...have children and have obligations beyond themselves, so it's hard for them to devote most of their time going to school when they have other obligations," Caffrey said. 

Another worry is that older students know they're different from the crowd, especially when their own children may be going to college at the same time. "Some, if they're coming back as an older adult -- probably, just because they think it's unfamiliar -- some people who are choosing to go back to programs where its mostly traditional students may feel they stick out in the classroom," Berg said.