Bryan, Alyssa, Keith and Adriana don’t run in the same circles as many of their peers. They don’t attend the same house parties. They did not come to the University as eager freshmen ready to experience for the first time the world outside their parents’ basements.
They’ve seen the country, started lives outside of campus and have more at stake in their education than their parents’ money. They are “nontraditional” undergraduate students — a category of students who often don’t fit the stereotypes of their peers, but according to the Office of the Dean of Students make up nearly three-quarters of the University’s student population.@@http://uodos.uoregon.edu/@@
Bryan and Alyssa
Bryan Hasson, 25, and Alyssa Aska, 24, have spent their college careers pushing strollers.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=aska@@@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=hasson@@
High school sweethearts, the couple’s first term at the University coincided closely with their wedding and birth of their son, Odin. Two years later, Aska brought her homework along with her to the hospital when she gave birth to their daughter, Freya. She was born through a Cesarean section, and Aska was back in class within a week.
Today, the couple, both full-time students — Aska studying technology and music composition, Hasson studying classical civilizations — juggle work and family harmoniously. They come to campus every morning as a family and switch back and forth throughout the day between class and watching Odin and Freya.
“It’s been hard. It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Hasson said. “But it’s also been one of the most rewarding.”
Although they are sometimes envious of their peers’ freedom to study whenever they please — they usually have to wait until after bedtime — Aska and Hasson say being parents has enhanced their experience as students.
“Because you value your homework time more, you do more,” Aska said. Motioning to her daughter, she added, “I need to do well. I need to get into graduate school to get a Ph.D. @@ap style@@so I can help her.”

Keith
During his 15-year hiatus from school, Keith Serrine saw what he wanted to change in the world. And now, two terms away from graduation, he has the education behind him to do it.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=serrine@@
After earning an associate’s degree in 1993 from a small community college in Illinois, Serrine decided to opt out of a bachelor’s degree in favor of working different manual labor jobs.
A back injury put him out of work in 2002. He decided to take the little money he had and hit the road — traveling around the country in his Ford Explorer and meeting people along the way who, Serrine said, changed his perspectives.
“On the road, I saw a lot of clinically diagnosed psychological disorders,” Serrine said. He also saw “the downside to medication.”
Serrine decided to return to school to get his degree in psychology so he can help find alternatives to traditional treatment. It is a path he said he likely would never have pursued without his experiences on the road.
At 39, he now sits in classes with peers half his age.
“They haven’t had much life experience yet,” Serrine said. “I have to keep reminding myself that.”
Adriana
Adriana Hernandez, 18 at the time, started her freshman year at Boise State University in 2003. Only now, eight years later, is she close to earning her degree — a feat family and friends told her she would never achieve.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=hernandez@@
Hernandez, of Boardman, Ore., started at Boise State with the intention of finishing in four years like everyone else. She moved into the dorms, started classes and met new people. But when she got pregnant with her son, Antonio, she realized she could only finish the first year.
Everyone doubted she would ever go back to school, Hernandez said, but she was determined to finish.
Hernandez returned to Oregon and a year later enrolled at the University. But once again, after a year of classes, she got pregnant — this time with twins, Noel and Noe.
Family and friends told her, “Oh, you’re definitely not going back now,” Hernandez said.
But she did, and now, at 26, Hernandez is set to graduate in June with a degree in business administration.
And as for motivation to continue going back to school, Hernandez said that part is easy.
“I want a better life for my kids.”