Going back to school as an adult has its challenges, both financially and mentally. A $50,000 grant from the state aims to make this transition easier at TC3.
Tompkins Cortland Community College will use the funding to recruit adult learners, ages 25 and older, and to continue supporting their current adult learners.
TC3 currently has about 800 adult learners, said Vice President of Enrollment Management Rob Palmieri, and plans to enroll and re-enroll more.
“I’ve been looking through our database, and have found 15,000 former students who have left us without earning a degree here or anywhere else,” Palmieri said. “We’re gonna spend time engaging with them to give them options, because we have so many options now with microcredentials, certificates and various programs that lead to well-paying jobs.”
The college also has a new policy for prior learning assessment, where students can receive college credit for work or military experience, Palmieri said.
TC3 also has the Pathways scholarship, which provides $7,000 to adult learners. This was crucial to Jon Majka, who recently graduated from TC3’s graphic design program, 20 years after he failed out twice.
“It’s like closing one half of a story, and opening a brand new one,” Majka. “I had my life planned out, and I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do and who I was planning to be for the next 20 years, and when that started to change, it felt like the earth was shaking beneath my feet.”
After being on academic probation at TC3 right after high school, he learned a trade, setting up alarm systems. He always had a passion for art, and now works as an artist and graphic designer.
“I’m forging my own path in a much much different way than I ever thought I would be,” Majka said.
“We’re trying to meet the needs of our adult learners in our community,” Palmieri said. “We appreciate the opportunity to do it, and it fits into our plans we’ve been working towards anyway, so it’s good to have some additional funds to help our students.”
The funding will arrive this month, and must be spent by July. It was part of $1.1 million given to community colleges statewide, so they could implement plans that give adult learners educational opportunities, a news release from Gov. Kathy Hocul’s office says.
“Working with SUNY, we are tackling the barriers that stand in the way of New Yorkers accessing these potentially transformational educational pathways,” Hochul said
In Majka’s experience, it was more difficult to make friends with classmates as an adult learner, he said.
“The age gap thing felt awkward,” he said. “I still had friends, but I was more friends with my professors than I was with my classmates. Once I got past the ‘Wow, I’m the old guy in the room,’ that was the biggest mental thing.”
“One of the things we’re working on is identifying an individualized space for the adult learners,” Palmieri said. “Somewhere where they can relax, socialize with peers, have access to various technologies, and study independently or in groups.”
Some of the money will be spent on keyboards compatible with phones, so students without a laptop can use their phone for assignments, he said. Funds will also go towards the Adult Learner Peer Mentor program.
“It helps students with onboarding,” Palmeri said. “When we have someone come back to school, we want them to be able to talk to other adult learners as well, and show that support up front.”
