Back to School After 30: You're Not Too Old to Learn a Few New Tricks

Feeling "less than" when your co-workers get promotions or a new jobs because they have the degree that you lack? Have you felt that you have not reached your potential, but that it would just be too hard to go back to school? Do you want to encourage your children in school and want to be a good example, or to make up for the knowledge you missed by getting on with your life instead of going straight to college after high school?

Here's the good news! Non-traditional students (over age 24) are going back to college in droves, and they are very successful. Think of all the life skills you already have:

Work Ethic

Time Management

Setting Priorities

Solving Problems

Meeting Deadlines

You have long since outgrown the need to prove yourself by taking risks with your life-drinking too much, reckless driving, experimentation with new experiences. Your wild oats have been sown, and you probably have reaped the harvest. You have made your life choices, and now you can make new ones that allow you to develop yourself to your potential.

You are already responsible. People depend on you-your boss, your employees, your children, your spouse-and you don't let them down. You know how to pull your weight, and how to work together to get things done.

You are a valuable resource to traditional students because you can share your experience. You have already dealt with problems that they worry about being able to handle. They, on the other hand, are a valuable source for you, with their fresh perspectives. You can learn from their experiences, their approach to new technologies, their different ways of working together.

The most important point, however, is that you are worth it. Even though your math and writing may be rusty, those skills will sharpen up with use. You'll see more quickly how to apply what you learn to your daily life, because adults learn by associating new ideas with the ones they already know. You will learn things that may change your whole world view-and come to know yourself as a new person, in the same body.

And as an adult, you will be less afraid to question the instructor, to ask for clarification, or even to challenge the content. You will insist on getting your money's worth from the class, since you are paying for it. If something does not make sense, you will want it explained again, and again if necessary, and that will make it clear to the rest of the class, who may be as confused as you are.

Your leadership skills are already more developed based on your experience. You will find yourself explaining as well, because you will be more diligent in reading the instructions. When you have a team project, that experience will help you lead the group to success.

Never feel "less than" because you did not put your life on hold to go straight to college--or for any other reason. Knowing what you know now will allow you to make the best choices for yourself, your family and your children. It's not the piece of paper that makes the person, but how you grow as a person along the way.

With five years of teaching online and two years of graduate school online, Charlotte Babb knows the ropes. If you need help with writing papers, deciphering semi-colons or demystifying APA formatting, try her blog at http://apareavealed.com.