What we didn't know about non traditional students until after we did the story

Today's story on non traditional students was an eye opener.

As an education reporter, you tend to see trends before they become trends. More students in a classroom could mean more students graduating which means 18 years ago, there was a high birth rate. We look at stats like that all the time and report the trends.

So reporting on non-traditional students, or students who have returned to school to after years away, was  what a typical higher education reporter does. The numbers have increased for SUSLA, BPCC, and LSUS in the past several years from 4,598 in 2006 to 5,025 in 2009. That's a huge jump for this area.

But compare those numbers with the number of students preparing to go to college and another story unfolds... there are more non-traditional students then there are high school students taking the ACT.

There are also more women than men going back to school.

These two stats open up a different insight for higher education in Northwest Louisiana.  Higher education has to be about workforce development more now than ever. Non-traditional students will be the fuel for the local economy.

But then what happens to the traditional students? How will they be catered to and coaxed into staying?

And the bigger question: With all the changes and cuts happening to higher education in the state, how can college and university be all things for all people? Or can it?


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