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I've had some readers email me asking how I was surviving life as a Mom, working full time, and attending classes so I thought I would share a little update with y'all. I am indeed still surviving. Not only surviving but thriving as an adult college student! I am taking two classes per term and I am 4 weeks in to my second term now. I am attending SNHU online and am working towards my Bachelor's Degree in Communications. My first two classes were an intro to college classes and English Comp 2 (an entire 8 week class on persuasive essay). Each term is 8 weeks long. I was scared the first couple of weeks that I would fail on keeping a good schedule and just drop out but I am a fighter and did not want to quit. I finished my first 2 classes with an A and a B. This term I have IDS-100 Perspectives in Liberal Arts and HUM-100 Perspectives in the Humanities. So far, half way in, I have an A in both classes.

Being an Adult College Student

With my full time job and raising a family, being a non-traditional, adult college student has given me a different college experience. I feel like I have more knowledge and preparedness now for taking college classes than when I was originally a college student right out of high school. I took a couple college classes while still in high school but taking classes now is so different from the early 2000's. I may be a non-traditional college student but then again most of my life has been lived non-traditionally. I will be 35 next month. I'm managing (with my husband's support and help) to keep up with family life, work full time, keep the blog and social channels up and running, and attend my classes. I am glad that online college classes are more open to a schedule for me and I can get assignments done when I can. Lately it's been sitting in the car on my lunch hour at work or at home hidden away in the office while Geek Daddy spends time with Kaylee. I squeeze it in whenever I can without taking away from family life or work and making sure that I am not just skimming through the work but really putting the effort in.

Online Adult College Student Life

What are some of the downsides to being a 35 year old college student? First and foremost the downside is finding and then keeping the balance of juggling of working, raising a family or taking care of elderly family members while still completing school assignments on time. Another issue is lack of financial aid. There aren't many scholarships (that I could find) for older people like me looking to enroll in college. Thankfully, I qualified for grants and along with my student loans I am making it work financially. I also found out that my job will help pay off my student loans so that's a big plus for me! There are more pluses to being an adult college student as well. This ain't my first rodeo. I've lived a little and done some things already, so college life is not my introduction to the adult world. For me, having some practical life experience prior to college gives me a better knowledge of key concepts, ideas, or applications covered in some courses.

I gotta get going now; I have some IDS-100 and HUM-100 assignments to complete for this week. Thanks for hanging out with me. Are any of you older college students? What are you majoring in? How are you managing the juggle? I'd love to hear about it.