By Toma Lynn Smith

While attending the University of Louisville’s Arts & Science Picnic last month, 37-year-old Keith Conkright, a senior art history major, did not feel out of place among his college peers participating in the event.

Conkright is part of a growing number of adults over the age of 25 who have returned to college to pursue an undergraduate degree.

“I don’t consider myself a nontraditional student, [I’m] just a student,” said Conkright.

Michael Gilliam, a 35-year-old junior nursing major, said, “I don’t see the purpose of separating the two.”

Gilliam and Conkright both said they returned to college to earn their degrees, do what they really wanted to do in life and for more financial stability.

Carrye Wilkins, a math instructor at U of L and the coordinator of the Math Resource Center, had first hand experience at being a nontraditional student.

Wilkins attended two years of college, then took a break to relocate with her military husband and give birth to her children.

She later returned to college and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s in mathematics.

“I remember studying with two kids lying on my lap,” she said.

One possible obstacle that may be felt by these returning students is the fear of being out of practice.

“Those who have been out of school for a while, their skills are a little rusty,” said Wilkins.

“They get to kind of questioning whether they can come back.”

Students, however, can indeed “come back.”

Vickie G. Halsell, director of REACH Academic Development and Continuing Studies, said the nontraditional students she has encountered have helped, by bringing a lot to class, “they are most interesting students, because they talk about some of the things they have been through.”

Regarding the younger students Gilliam said, “talking about the 80s, they automatically look at me.”

Also there may be people who are not aware that in Kentucky, those over 65 years of age can use Senior Citizen Tuition Remission. This waives their tuition when attending a Kentucky college or university.

“I consider them more non-traditional than myself because they’re coming back just for the enjoyment of learning, they’re not really going [to] use this for anything else,” said Conkright.

Walter K. Smith, an 80-year-old student in his 12th year of taking audit classes at U of L, may disagree.

Smith said his academic endeavors keep him busy; he lost his wife two years ago and had already received a bachelor’s degree in 1950 from U of L.

Hanging out in the Commuter Student Services room in Davidson Hall, he gabs and uses the computer just like his younger peers.

“I admire them because I think it takes a lot more will power to return to school after you’ve been out of it for quite a while,” said 18-year-old Amber Barnett.