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.

This causes many non-traditional students to be extra motivated in their classes.

Bachelder teaches many non-traditional students in her family and consumer science class, Aging and the Family, and also Adults in Transition.

Bachelder said many set high standards for themselves and are disappointed with a B.

“I’ve had a number of students (express sincere gratitude) because they’re just so happy to see what they’re doing wrong so they can learn,” she said.

Bachalder had a student in a class whose brother got in a car accident the same day a paper was due. She said the student told her she would have it turned in by next week.

“And I thought, ‘Oh gosh, you can have more than a week to finish it,” Bachalder said.

Her classes were a priority.

Jill Peckham, 47, is pursuing a degree in bachelor’s of general studies said she enjoys going to classes on campus and learning information she feels will help her in the future.

Peckham said the professors she has had like non-traditional students in their classes because they respond more.

“We’re not afraid to make a comment and maybe be wrong,” she said. “We always talk in class; it’s hard to get us to shut up sometimes because we have a lot of experience that we pull on that we want to relate to what we’re talking about.”

For non-traditional students unable to attend classes on campus, the School of Continuing Education offers online classes.

Barker said she takes online classes because she can do the work when it fits in her schedule.

“If I’m up at 11 at night, after my kids have gone to bed, and I’ve got laundry done or whatever, it works. I can do it in my own time frame.”

Barker said non-traditional students have a lot of stress.

“I know students that are traditional have stress because a lot of them are working too,” Barker said. “It’s just that you have the added factor of the family a lot of times.”

She said even if a non-traditional student does not have a family, most of them are working and adding the school load on top of it.

“It’s like you know you’ve gone to work meetings, you’ve gone to school meetings, and then you come home you’re tired and you have to fix supper, you have to do laundry, and then you still have to do homework,” she said.

This often causes parents who return to college to deal with some guilt.

Course work takes time away from the family.

Bachelder said for example it is often hard especially for younger children and the spouse because the non-traditional student now has to divide their time between family and school.

Barker has 12- and 16-year-old sons.

She said there have been times, like during finals week, when everyone was just wishing it were over.

Barker said during the week there is not time to study, so a lot of weekends are given up to work on projects.

Barker can relate to this because both of her children play sports; so with ball games and classes, they try to work it all in.

“The main thing that I hear from students is that they have kid,” Barker said. “Like tonight my son has a ball game so I’m trying to balance going to class, helping them with their homework; a lot of non-traditional students have a full-time job.”

Today, OASIS will have an informational table set up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., outside the University Food Court at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. OASIS is a group for non-traditional students on campus.