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GORDON DANIELS

Raechel Kelley

Many students choose to take a year off between high school and college, and others take several years off. I began my college career eight years after graduating from high school.

I had to live a little before I found the motivation to go back to school, and I'm not the only one. Extended gap years are becoming a growing trend and some colleges even offer specialized programs shaped specifically for adult education. But going back to school is not easy. Adults returning to school often struggle with their everyday responsibilities while completing their degree.

I graduated high school in 2001, and I didn't think I would ever go college. I believed school to be too time-consuming and I didn't want an intense academic agenda. After several years, though, I realized that I did want to be academically challenged, and above all, I desired a fulfilling career. Now, I am a Frances Perkins Scholar at Mount Holyoke College. Though I sometimes have trouble balancing my adult life and school, going back to school was the best decision I've ever made.

Many people skip college for a variety of reasons: family obligations, financial difficulties, pregnancy or prior employment.

Nayroby Rosa, 27, waited several years to go to college and now she is enrolled in the University Without Walls at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

"It was very difficult for me to decide to go back to school," said Rosa. "I basically went into the working field when I was 16 and I enjoyed making money, so I was just focused on working."

Rosa currently works with at-risk teens and is focusing her study on child and youth services.

"I decided to go back to school after realizing that the income I was receiving would not be enough to support my daughter," Rosa said. "In addition to that, because I was working in the field, I felt like I needed the educational background as well."

Rosa is not only a student but also a single mother, making a conventional education much more difficult. By pursuing her degree at the University Without Walls, Rosa is able to attend classes online and still care for her 7-year-old daughter.

The University Without Walls is unique for several reasons. Not only does it allow adults to work towards an education while managing their personal responsibilities, at UWW students can receive credit for experience held outside of college.

"When (the students) write their prior-learning portfolio in their second semester, it's worth on average 15 to 24 credits," explained Karen Stevens, chief undergraduate advisor at UWW. "So that accelerates the process a lot for people that really want to be able to get their degree relatively quickly."

Another interesting characteristic of UWW is that each student works closely with an academic advisor to build a personalized degree. Rosa said her having an advisor that helped her to draw connections between life experience and her education was her favorite part of the UWW program.

"We keep close contact with our students, even though it's a fully online program," said Stevens.

After completing her bachelor's degree at UWW, Rosa plans to continue her education by enrolling in a program at Springfield College that offers a combined master's degree in social work and a juris doctor degree.

While adult education turned out to be the right choice for Rosa and myself, not everyone needs several years to develop the motivation needed for college. Others prefer to accelerate their education.

Lena Jillson, of Florence, received a master's degree in education degree from UMass at 21.

"I was incredibly independent throughout the whole process," said Jillson, "and I think being on my own was a huge driving factor for me."

Jillson fast-tracked her education by transferring to Greenfield Community College her sophomore year of high school. By combining high school and college classes, she was able to graduate with her high school diploma and an associate's degree. Jillson later went on to major in music therapy at UMass, which she often applies in her current career as an elementary school teacher.

"I think that (choosing a career path) is a natural process of unfolding and it can happen at anytime," said Jillson. "My pathway naturally evolved through school # but I think for lots of people, figuring it out through jobs or life experience and then going back to school works really well too."