School has no expiration date

Older students seek to enjoy the college experience

1999 and took a couple of classes, but I didn’t do so well.”

Munoz believes she wasn’t mature enough to handle going to college when she was younger.

Goals are set and the finish line is within sight for older students who attend college.

Some are returning students here to complete the education they started years ago, while others are here to actualize new dreams.

At age 45, kinesiology major Christopher Ferguson is a first-time college student and attends school full-time. Ferguson retired from the Navy, where he served 20 years and worked as a diesel mechanic.

He is focused on a second occupation and uses education to enhance his business.

“My fiancé and I own a companion care facility, so I’m going to incorporate physical therapy into that,” Ferguson said.

Older students attend school for a multitude of reasons, and while it’s a first-time experience for some, others are students who returned to school to finish what they started.

After high school, Patty Munoz, 37, experimented with college. She attended both California State University, Northridge and Pierce, but stopped going to school when life pulled her in other directions.

“I attended CSUN at age 18 for about a year, but I lived in L.A. and commuted by bus, and then I made friends and stopped going to school,” Munoz said. “I came to Pierce in

“My life then was such a mess because I was too young and I wasn’t ready for college,” Munoz said.

The biggest difference counselor Sunday Salter sees between traditional, “college-aged” students and older students is not knowing what you want when you’re younger and having clear goals when you’re older.

“Traditional aged students are at a unique time in their lives when they’re trying to figure life out, and haven’t necessarily decided what they want to major in or what their goals are,” Salter said. “They change their minds very quickly.”

This is not unusual behavior for students who are transitioning from high school to a higher level of academia, according to Salter.

“It’s developmentally appropriate and it is where they should be in life,” she said. “It’s always been hard for a lot of our students to be successful, because developmentally some of them aren’t ready, and they often struggle.”

Salter believes that older students know what they want to do and also possess the motivation that leads to their success.

“Returning students know exactly why they’re here and they have goals,” Salter said. “They’re highly motivated to finish school because they have stuff going on in their lives and they don’t want to mess around.” Life situations often dictate the paths that people choose, and for 30-year-old Cecilia Gomez, it was work that halted her educational strides. She attended school parttime, off and on for a few years, until she decided to focus on work.

“I attended college right after high school, but work got in the way,” Gomez said. “I decided to work fulltime instead of going to school fulltime.”

As she climbed the corporate ladder, Gomez realized she could only get so far without a college education.

“I was escalating at work and getting higher positions, but then I was stuck because I never completed college,” she said. “I decided to come back and finish my bachelor’s degree.”

Adjunct instructor Jenny Serrano teaches political science to students enrolled in PACE. The program serves students who have to balance a job and school by offering evening and Saturday classes.

“I actually prefer teaching older students because they tend to have a direction and more motivation,” Serrano said. “They have more hanging in the balance with school, work and kids.”

With age comes focus, and an unstoppable determination. Failure is not an option for these students.

“I have a goal and my mind is set, so anything is possible,” Munoz said. “I’m not