STUDENT SAYS COLLEGE BETTER `SECOND TIME AROUND'

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Pam McCarron says college is better the second time around. After nearly a 10-year break from college, McCarron will graduate in May with a business degree.

A single mother returning to school, McCarron is among 25 percent of students at Southeast Missouri State University who are classified as non-traditional, those who are older than the common-aged college student.

"The first time I was in college I was there just for the grade or to complete the course," McCarron said. "This time I feel like I'm here to learn.

"Non-traditional students have made a decision to come back to school," she said. "They know what they want, and they have made sacrifices to be here. Many younger students, who are just out of high school, come to college because it is the expected thing to do."

After she was graduated from high school and worked for a year, McCarron enrolled at Southeast for the first time. "Then I quit school, got married, left the area, worked and had a child," she said.

"I always wanted to return to school, but we were a two-income family. We were dependent on those two incomes, and for me to go back to school would have meant a lot of sacrifices."

Then McCarron was divorced.

"I lived in a small town and there weren't many job opportunities. I worked full time at just over minimum wage and still qualified for state aid. The only way out I could see was to finish college. I wanted a challenging career plus a livable wage."

So she returned to Cape Girardeau and college for the second time in 1989. She attends school full time.

"When I came back to school, I established what my priorities would be," McCarron said. "Being a single parent, I knew it would be a little more difficult. My daughter was 4 when we moved to Cape. It was difficult. I didn't know anyone here. I found day care and an apartment close to school."

She and daughter Jenna, 5, have a daily routine. McCarron walks the little girl to day care and then walks to her classes. "It works out real well unless something unexpected happens. I dread the word chickenpox.

"My day care has been really supportive," she said. But when her daughter is sick she has trouble. "I have no family here to watch her. She can't go to school or the day care, so I have to cross my fingers and hope my instructors understand."

Making ends meet financially is also a challenge, McCarron said.

"There is a lot of financial aid available Pell grants, loans scholarships. And you have a pretty low standard of living." But she said it will all be worth it once she graduates.

McCarron said additional support is needed for non-traditional students like herself.

"I think the university is trying. But 25 percent of the student body are non-traditional students, and within 10 years that number is expected to be up to 40 percent," she said. "We need support systems; we need to feel welcome and important to the university."

McCarron is president of Re-Emergents, a campus organization for non-traditional students that hopes to create a support system for the students.

"I was really interested in meeting other students. If you just go to class, you don't have that many opportunities to meet people," she said.

The group cosponsor programs to help non-traditional students and coordinates social events.

She said: "The experience here has been so much more than the classes. The classes and knowledge are important, but there are a lot of opportunities for personal growth on campus. I came back hoping to improve my economic situation, but I have gained so much more."