There is a growing trend on college campuses nation-wide, and the University of Mississippi is no exception.
Ole Miss continues to add non-traditional students to its enrollment, improving from 10.8 percent of the enrollment in 2009 to 12.8 percent in 2010.
The university projected that 12.1 percent of the enrollment in the fall would be non-traditional students.
According to the Ole Miss website, non-traditional students are students who are above the age of 25, students who are married, students who are financially independent, students returning to school after at least a three-year absence, students who are veterans, students working either full- or part-time and transfer students.
Whether starting from the ground up or continuing an education that was put on hold, everyone has their own reasons for coming to school, including those who are older than the normal college student.
Kevin Cozart, a 33-year-old liberal studies major with minors in business, marketing and mass media, said he did not originally plan on stringing his undergraduate career so far.
“I didn’t foresee the current path to graduation,” he said. “I didn’t see myself running into the brick wall of academic burnout that hit me two or three years after I started.”
Cozart graduated high school in 1996 and immediately went to college, leaving in 1999. He said a mixture of being “burnt out” on school and not knowing what he wanted to do led him to take some time off.
“I would like to see our educational system embrace a skip year,” Cozart said.
“We put a lot of emphasis on racing through the undergraduate years and then taking the rest of your life to figure out what you want to do.”
The gap year is becoming increasingly more common in Europe and has recently stirred up quite the controversy in the United States.
It is the norm to go to university immediately following high school graduation, but some believe this to be another step instead of a life decision.
International student Caroline Johansson, 27, said a gap year in Sweden is common.
“The opinion (in Sweden) is that you should figure out what you want to do first,” she said.
“Here (at Ole Miss), I realized that it is looked down upon if you don’t go to university as soon as you finish high school, and that can be difficult.”
Johansson and Cozart agree that taking time off not only gives a person life and work experiences but also gives he or she a greater respect and appreciation for education.
“As I got older and began looking at things a little bit differently, I really appreciated the classes and the professors more than I did when I first started,” Cozart said.
While it may not be feasible for every student to take a year or two off to travel and then come back when they are financially independent from their families, there are certainly options that are helping it become increasingly more common.
The University of Mississippi offers each member of its faculty and staff two paid classes in the spring and the fall and one paid class during each summer session.
This program allowed Cozart, along with many of his peers, to start, continue or finish their educational careers.
Another program the university has is the Lifelong Learners program, specifically for senior citizens. This program offers any three hours a semester to those 65-years-old or wiser.
Alex MacCormack, 72, retired to Oxford around 2000 and became involved with the music scene around the community.
Alex MacCormack, 72, retired to Oxford around 2000 and became involved with the music scene around the community. His love for the trumpet was his reason for returning to school.
“I wanted to keep my music up, so I joined some community bands,” he said. After meeting band director David Willson, MacCormack decided to work his way back in to one of his favorite past-times: marching band.
“One day I asked him, ‘Hey Dave, what’s the oldest person you’ve ever had in your marching band?’ He said it was a woman around 38-years-old,” MacCormack said.
“I told him I wanted to shatter that record.”
At 66-years-old, MacCormack started the Ole Miss band challenge.
During his first year with the Pride of the South Marching Band, he was interviewed by alumni Shephard Smith in the Grove, who called him “the seasoned class of the Ole Miss brass.”
Since 2001, MacCormack has been involved in marching band and two jazz ensembles.
Besides taking this past marching season off, MacCormack said he has never missed a single performance or rehearsal.
This fall, 72-year-old MacCormack will be returning to the field, trumpet held high.
While every non-traditional student has his or her own reasons for returning to school, they are still returning nonetheless.
This trend is not slowing down and may even cause a few traditional students to redefine their educational experiences.
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