Spring Break
Masters Degree Required
Emily Zulz/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News
Right out of high school, Cheryl Barker started working in a travel agency.
She worked there 18 years until the Internet came along and changed things.
"There (were) already a lot of changes," she said. "I decided to make changes with my life and I checked into going back to school."
That was six years ago.
Barker, 43, attended Lake Land College in Mattoon for two years and then transferred to Eastern to finish her junior and senior years.
Barker is now working on her master's degree, which she hopes to obtain next fall.
She is a graduate assistant for the School of Continuing Education and is the Organization of Adult Students, Informal and Supportive coordinator.
Working with OASIS, Barker has seen a trend in why people are coming back to school later in life.
"When I graduated 20 some years ago, you knew to get a good job; you didn't necessarily have to have a master's degree whereas today you do," Barker said. "So to get better jobs or a lot of people that have good jobs, they can't go up the ladder anymore because they don't have that degree."
Audrey Bachelder, an advisor for the bachelor's of general studies degree program and many non-traditional students, has also found many older students return to college in order to get a better job or change careers.
"Some students, they need a degree to be eligible for a promotion," she said.
Bachelder said she has also heard from her advisees that completing a degree is about finishing something.
She said whether people went to work right out of high school or attended college for two or three years and then quit, obtaining a college degree is something they want to do.
Bachalder said sometimes women choose to come back to be good role models for their children.
She said the non-traditional students think when they have not gone to college, they're in no place to ask their children to.
She worked there 18 years until the Internet came along and changed things.
"There (were) already a lot of changes," she said. "I decided to make changes with my life and I checked into going back to school."
That was six years ago.
Barker, 43, attended Lake Land College in Mattoon for two years and then transferred to Eastern to finish her junior and senior years.
Barker is now working on her master's degree, which she hopes to obtain next fall.
She is a graduate assistant for the School of Continuing Education and is the Organization of Adult Students, Informal and Supportive coordinator.
Working with OASIS, Barker has seen a trend in why people are coming back to school later in life.
"When I graduated 20 some years ago, you knew to get a good job; you didn't necessarily have to have a master's degree whereas today you do," Barker said. "So to get better jobs or a lot of people that have good jobs, they can't go up the ladder anymore because they don't have that degree."
Audrey Bachelder, an advisor for the bachelor's of general studies degree program and many non-traditional students, has also found many older students return to college in order to get a better job or change careers.
"Some students, they need a degree to be eligible for a promotion," she said.
Bachelder said she has also heard from her advisees that completing a degree is about finishing something.
She said whether people went to work right out of high school or attended college for two or three years and then quit, obtaining a college degree is something they want to do.
Bachalder said sometimes women choose to come back to be good role models for their children.
She said the non-traditional students think when they have not gone to college, they're in no place to ask their children to.
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