Pros and Con of a Mature Student

The pros and cons of:

Being a mature student can be the most exciting thing in one’s life and it can also be the most frightening thing in one’s life.

At the age of 42, living in a small community, going through a nasty divorce, holding down a fulltime getting part time hours, paying out more than was coming in. Having friends who encourage, seeing each month go by knowing how little was coming in and still having money left over at the end of the month, knowing there is a Father in heaven taking care of business, taking care of His daughter, taking care of me.

At the age of 43, needing more money to live on, knowing the job is a dead end job, trying to get other part time, casual jobs, main employers dictating unreasonable shifts not willing to accommodate for other jobs, day in and day out being insulted by employers, getting more and more stressed. Looking for a better way to live, encouragements to apply for college, knowing college would mean a move, applying for a student loan, being accepted for college and the loan.

Now the excitement begins, it’s time to pull up stakes and move, but where would I live? On a student loan as a single person, I would have nine hundred a month to live on, which was two hundred more a month than I had been living on for the last two years, still restricting. The nine hundred per month would need to include gas, insurance and car maintenance – tires, brakes, and all the other things that go with maintaining a car, because I would have a forty-five minute drive, each way, per day, for school. It would also need to include rent, food, clothes and lets not forget books. Imagine the added excitement when ex-in-laws offer a place to live/to stay while attending college. A year before a suggestion of living with my ex-in-laws would have brought an uncontrollable laugh and the question, “Are you nuts?” However, here I was, moving in with them. My life was changing. God was good. Learning was exciting. Making new friends was exhilarating.

Who knew where things would go from there, definitely not me. Life as a mature student and learning new things, the idea of being an office admin at the end of a two-year program was the beginning of attaining a better life – even though it was later in life, no more part time - minimum wage jobs for this girl. No more scrimping and scraping - hoping the dollar would last longer than the month.

When I was in high school, twenty five years ago, I was receiving D’s and F’s for final grades, but having spent most of my life being bullied at school, school was not one of my favorite places to be and for me, it was not a very good learning experience, but now as an adult things were different. Seeing A’s and B’s as my grades, was unbelievable and amazing to me.

Upon graduating with a Certificate/Diploma in General Office Administration doors opened for me to continue on, and get a Certificate/Diploma in Legal Office Administration, which was another dream come true. I had always been interest in law, but knew I was not smart enough to be a lawyer, but learning that I was smart enough, to be an administrator though new was a more likely possibility. However, after four years of college and with the grades I had been receiving along with the encouragement I was getting, I did start looking into the Paralegal realm. As intriguing as being a paralegal seemed, the idea that as a paralegal, I would do the brunt of the work, for less than half the pay of a lawyer and absolutely no credit for the work, I dropped that idea. At that point, I was very happy with the thought of working in a law firm or some sort of law facility as an administrator was exciting to me.

I learned rather quickly that everything we do is a steppingstone to the next thing, leading to a higher level, each one, an adventure in itself. Everything that happens to us, which the devil tries to use against us, to keep us down, wanting to destroy us. It is the best feeling in the world when we see the Lord lift us up, teach us exactly who He is, showing others exactly how wrong they were.

One college program led to another. Two college programs led to university to attain a Bachelor’s Degree and then a second Bachelor’s Degrees and a Master’s Degree will come next. None of these educational steps/levels came or come free. College/university have to be paid for, somehow, be it saving money for several years first, working while studying or a student loan, there will be sacrifices along with very hard work. Is an education worth seventy thousand dollars, ninety thousand before grants are applied? For me, the financial cost is definitely worth the end-results.

Because of learning about steppingstones, I use the words end-results loosely. While in university, I learned that I love to write - Essays, Literature Reviews, Annotated Bibliographies, PowerPoint Presentations – which led to invitations to conferences as a speaker; and Ethnographies – which led to writing and publishing my first pocket sized book.

I do not wish any of the mishaps or events I have experience on anyone not even my worst enemy, but I can say and do say, had I not lived the life I, was given to live, I would not be the person I am today. We can and many do become bitter, resentful and lonely. On the other hand, we can and many do become achievers, more than survivors and advocates for others.

I find it very interesting how God brings things about. In or about 1990 a friend told me, God had given her a word for me – in that – someday I would be an author and would be writing books. I laughed and told her she had heard wrong. However, in 1998 I started writing poetry and here I am in 2016, co-writing a novel series about a woman who is living out a dream I had and a poem I wrote in 1999. If you want to read that poem “His Train” is posted on the About page of this blog.

In conclusion and in regards to the pros and cons of being a mature student, yes there have been, are and will continue to be cons in my endeavors as a continued learner. However, the pros far outweigh and outreach anything others could consider to be cons, making each and every day more interesting and worth the cost.