My mother wants to go back to school

Parents Forum
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<p>Good for you and your Mom.
On the grades she wished weren't there on her transcript, every private college my kids applied to had one place on the application that asked for short-answer reply to a question like this, "Is there anything about your academic history you'd like to tell us not covered elsewhere on the application?" Or, "Please tell us anything you feel important for us to understand your application."
These open-ended questions are inviting you to put in a sentence explaining she had Mono, and name the specific grades and course names involved.
I would bet they will excuse it. Life Happens.
Just don't worry about that piece at all.</p>

<p>Have you considered special scholarships for older students? I was amused to see at Chapman University (California), where my youngest will go, a $500.
the Nancy Reagan scholarship for "a Republican voting woman over age 25."
I'm going to look around for you and if I see a good site, will post again.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.nymentor.com/FinAid/Scholarship_Search/v3browse.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nymentor.com/FinAid/Scholarship_Search/v3browse.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>That's a list of scholarships in NY State for mature women students. I don't think you have to be a resident to get them, but you can investigate each one. </p>

<p>All I did was google up "mature student financial aid" and clicked a few times into some sites. Or maybe try the words "college" or "mature woman student" etc.</p>

<p>If she knows a college she wants to attend, she should certainly phone up the financial aid departmetn (if it's not already on the website) to ask if they have special monies set aside to help "mature" or "mature returning students"
Mature just means 25 plus.</p>

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<p>^^^^correction, try this link and type in the word "mature" to get the results I'm trying to help you see:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nymentor.com/FinAid/Scholarship_Search/v3browse.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nymentor.com/FinAid/Scholarship_Search/v3browse.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>^ Thanks for the help!</p>

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<p>What about U Maryland University College? It guarantees admission to all, and tuition is low. Its whole function is to help adults to get degrees.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.wellesley.edu/NSP/davisProgram.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wellesley.edu/NSP/davisProgram.html&lt;/a>
^ Wellesley also has a good college for older people.</p>

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<p>Would they look at old SAT scores? How were those?</p>

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<p>Here's a link for Financial Aid for "older students"</p>

<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/older.phtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.finaid.org/otheraid/older.phtml&lt;/a> </p>

<p>(Guess what I just learned from googling: the term "mature students" is used in England, Australia and Canada...but in the USA, they use "Older Students")</p>

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<p>Good for her and good for you for supporting her in her decision. I have 2 kids, both starting college in the fall. I've decided to go back to college and finally finish my degree, too.</p>

<p>I live overseas so am limited to distance programs. I've been accepted at Empire State, the distance "campus" of SUNY. Despite being a state college system, they charge in-state tuition for all students and the price is reasonable. Your mother has the option of staying where she is if she is not ready to move.</p>

<p>Empire State has impressed me so far. They are geared to working adults or mature adults returning to college. They seem to accept all previous college credit from accredited institutions as long as they fit into your degree plan as either general electives, major requirements, etc. They also accept CLEP and will evaluate life experience that's relevant to the degree.</p>

<p>Good luck to her and to you at Tufts.</p>

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<p>Please send her this link:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cicu.org/publicationReports/article.php?Article_ID=13%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cicu.org/publicationReports/article.php?Article_ID=13&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>From what I can tell, the Hamilton College program looks like a good fit if she becomes an area resident. </p>

<p>By the way, I am a single parent who earned an Associate's and 2 Bachelor's while raising 3 children. She can do it!</p>

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<p>Also, most colleges have an office that offers specific financial and academic guidance to "re-entry" students, especially women. There is a lot of info available that would help your mother. Look for it on the college websites. They usually have pre-admission evaluation appt's where they can let your mom know if she is a good match for the school. BTW... you are a nice kid to be helping your mom!</p>

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<p>Encouraging stories to share with your mom: my brother-in-law, age 45, is now getting his B.A. at the same time as two of his daughters. At night he works two jobs. He takes extra credit hours because he feels as though as long as he's paying for it, he should learn as much as possible. He had undiagnosed dyslexia as a youth and never made it to college. He's very smart and reads a lot, but it always bothered him to only be a h.s. grad, and it severely limited the jobs he could take all his life. So now he's addressing it. His wife is a nurse and she took an extra night job, too. Everything is possible when people believe in each other.</p>

<p>I'm wondering if she'll need to take out loans or buy some daycare for younger sibs. If so, I want to encourage her to not be afraid. This is an investment in herself. Think about what the project is worth, not what it costs. If she finishes a degree and will be able to get a better job, this is a different kind of debt than just going into credit-card debt to buy things. This is an Investment.
I went back to retrain at university at age 45 but I had three kids under the age of 6. I had the advantage that your mom doesn't have of a husband, but with his job, we still needed daycare. I didn't like that we had to suddenly have to pay for fulltime daycare instead of me doing all that childcare. However, with the degree in hand I could get a job, and it all was paid back within a few years. Many women are concerned, rightfully, not to go into debt and don't invest in themselves. If she is concerned, perhaps you can help her think this way. Spending money for education is an investment that she will be in a position to repay. The loan terms generally allow for slow repayment over time; it's not like paying back on a car. </p>

<p>Good luck to your family. I hope this works out for her. It's not easy but people are doing it.</p>

<p>I noticed that your mom has interest in musical theater or music, and also has physical disabilities. I'm sure you've looked at the musical theater thread here on CC under special majors, for bits and tidbits, atlhough mostly those are for young performers. However, it might identify schools with musical theater courses included. </p>

<p>My thought is that she might consider also taking some "theater production" classes because with all of her life experience, she might be able to enjoy participating in the production (office) end of the theater world someday. This might need be as a volunteer, due to her disability, but it could also pay a small amount. Without the tremendous pressure of earning a full salary, she could really make a contribtuion to some of the new theater groups starting all over the country, whether in marketing, sales, production, rentals...it's kind of interesting!
Just an idea. (My kids perform so that's why I picked up on it.)</p>