in the basement of the EMU today to provide information and resources for students who have taken a different path on the road to a college degree.
The open house is part of National Nontraditional Student Week.
“I think a lot of people are non-trads and they don’t know it,” NSU Director Cindy Ingram said. “We are the largest growing population of undergrads in the U.S.”
The National Center for Education Statistics defines a non-traditional student as one who delayed attending college, has dependents other than a spouse, never completed high school, transferred from a junior college or works full time while attending school.
If a student meets three of the five criteria, he or she is considered “highly non-traditional.”
Ingram cited a 2002 study by
the National Center for Education Statistics, which found that non-traditional students have a 50 percent chance of achieving their academic goals.
“We are an at-risk population, because primarily we’re the lowest income of all students and a lot
of us have kids,” Ingram said.
“So this is why we have a
Nontraditional Student Union.”
Ingram says the open house
will be a chance for students
to learn more about how the NSU can help
them achieve their academic goals.
“A single mom in her mid-thirties might have different barriers to success than a 19-year-old white man,” she said.
Throughout the year, the
NSU provides a variety of resources in their office near The Break in 20A EMU.
“A lot of what we do is just create a safe space for people who feel different.”

[email protected]