年纪虽大，上大学的梦想不变

Many Adults Falling Short of Degrees
年纪虽大，上大学的梦想不变

TWO and a half years ago, Kristine Rose enrolled full time at Mount Holyoke College and crammed her belongings into a 12-foot-square room.

两年半前，克里斯汀·罗丝(Kristine Rose)带上行李钻进了曼荷莲学院(Mount Holyoke College)12平方英尺的一间宿舍里，成为该校的全日制学生。

She arrived on the campus in South Hadley, Mass., as a Frances Perkins scholar, a program established more than 30 years ago for women beyond traditional college age who sought an undergraduate degree. All bring previously earned college credit; Ms. Rose transferred in 57 of the 128 credits required for graduation.

她以弗朗西丝·珀金斯(Frances Perkins)奖学金获得者的身份来到了该校在马萨诸塞州南哈德利的校园。该奖学金项目创建于30多年前，旨在资助想要获得学士学位的超龄女大学生。她们之前拿到的大学学分都可以转入，罗丝女士转了57分，满128分时即可毕业。

In May, just shy of her 49th birthday, she expects to receive her diploma with a major in anthropology and a minor in English. For the onetime high school dropout, who waited tables, taught preschool and worked as a commercial account manager for an insurance company, her motivation for pursing a degree was simple. “I wanted to create more life chances,” she said.

她预计在5月份拿到主修人类学、辅修英语的文凭，然后很快迎来她49岁的生日。罗丝女士一度高中辍学，曾当过服务员、教过学前班、在保险公司做过企业客户经理。她想拿到学位的目的很简单。“我希望给自己创造更多的人生机会，”她说。

As the economic benefits of having a college degree become better known, the number of full-time adult learners — those over 24 — is growing, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, increasing more than 8 percent to over 2.5 million in 2011 (the last year for which statistics are available) from 2.3 million in 2009. Some are veterans eligible for benefits under a post-9/11 G.I. Bill.

随着人们对大学学位经济效益的了解日益增加，24岁以上参加全日制学习的成年人数量也不断增长。据美国国家教育统计中心(National Center for Education Statistics)的数据显示，这一人数从2009年的230万人增长到2011年（有统计数据的最近一年）的250万人，增幅超过8%。其中一些人是在军人安置法案(post-9/11 G.I. Bill)中有权享有教育福利的退伍军人。

Still, the completion rate for older undergraduates lags that of their younger peers. Among full-time students at four-year institutions who entered college in 2007 and graduated within six years, 81 percent of those who entered when they were younger than 20 years old graduated, while the rate was 61 percent for those older than 24 at entry, according to data compiled last year by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center in Herndon, Va. The private Lumina Foundation, which focuses on increasing success in higher education, found that the completion rate for students aged 25 to 64 was nearly 39 percent.

然而，大龄大学生毕业率仍低于更年轻的大学生。据总部设在弗吉尼亚州赫恩登的美国学生信息交换研究中心(National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)去年编撰的统计数据显示，在2007年入学四年制院校的全职大学生中，有81%入学年龄不到20岁的学生在6年内毕业，而在入学年龄超过24岁的人中，这一比例仅为61%。致力于提高美国高等教育成果的私有基金会光明基金会(Lumina Foundation)发现，25-64岁的大学生毕业率只有近39%。

Like their younger counterparts, some older students seek out highly selective colleges. Among those that enroll full-time older students are Tufts, Brown, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Yale.

和年轻的学生们一样，年龄大的学生也偏爱名牌大学。招收大龄学生的高校有塔夫茨大学(Tufts)、布朗大学(Brown)、曼荷莲、史密斯大学(Smith)、卫斯理学院(Wellesley)、布林莫尔学院(Bryn Mawr)、宾夕法尼亚大学（University of Pennsylvania，简称宾大）、哥伦比亚大学(Columbia)和耶鲁大学(Yale)。

Robert J. Hansen, the chief executive of the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, a Washington trade group, estimated that 700 four-year campuses offered continuing education programs in for older students to earn a bachelor’s degree.

据设在华盛顿的大学职业与继续教育协会(University Professional and Continuing Education Association)首席执行官罗伯特·汉森(Robert J. Hansen)估计，全美约有700所四年制学院为大龄学生提供颁发学士学位的继续教育课程。

Typically, the older students are put into their own applicant pool. For some, standardized tests are optional. While colleges say they award aid to those with demonstrated need, older students received a smaller percentage of private scholarships and institutional grants and a greater percentage of federal Pell Grants than traditional students, according to the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Older students may have jobs or rely on a spouse’s income, making them ineligible for need-based aid, said Mark Kantrowitz, senior vice president and publisher of Edvisors, an informational website about paying for college.  Only a few, like Ms. Rose at Mount Holyoke, reside on campus.

一般情况下，学校把大龄学生分为一个专门的申请群体。一些学校并不强制要求他们通过标准化测试。虽然高校都说他们会给那些有需要的学生提供资助，但由美国教育统计中心进行的2011-2012年美国大学资助研究(National Postsecondary Student Aid Study)显示，大龄学生拿到的私立奖学金和学校补助的比例相对较少，而拿到联邦佩尔助学金(Pell Grants)的比例却比常规适龄学生高。Edvisors的高级副总裁兼发行人马克·坎特洛维茨(Mark Kantrowitz)说，大龄学生们可能有工作或可以依靠配偶的帮助，从而无法得到校方提供的基于需要的资助。只有极少数人像曼荷莲的罗丝女士一样住在学校里。Edvisors是一家致力于提供“出钱读大学”相关信息的网站。

Those enrolling to complete a degree, experts say, include career changers, those who deferred college earlier and those who want to be role models for younger family members. Older students say they face financial sacrifice and academic pressure they did not anticipate. Still, they say the road to a degree is largely worthwhile.

专家们说，那些想要取得学位的大龄学生包括想改行的人、以前没能读完大学的人以及那些想给家里的年轻人树个榜样的人。大龄学生们说，他们面对的金钱牺牲和学术压力超出预期。尽管如此，他们仍觉得读大学拿文凭这条路是值得的。

Cory Boatwright, 36, expects to graduate in May with a degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania School of Liberal and Professional Studies. A former staff sergeant in the United States Air Force, his tuition and living expenses are paid by a Department of Veterans Affairs program called Yellow Ribbon.

36岁的科里·博特赖特(Cory Boatwright)有望在5月毕业，拿到宾夕法尼亚大学人文和专业研究学院(School of Liberal and Professional Studies)的国际关系学位。这位美国空军前参谋军士的学费和生活费由退休军人事务部(Department of Veterans Affairs)的黄丝带项目(Yellow Ribbon)支付。

Mr. Boatwright said he found the rigor of the classroom difficult at first. Taking classes with traditional undergraduates, “I had to relearn how to learn, how to write at a different level and retain large amounts of material,” he said.

博特赖特说，一开始，他觉得很难跟上高强度的课业。和正常年龄的大学生们一起上课，“我不得不重新学习如何学习，如何在记住大量材料的同时以更高的水平写作，”他说。

His experience galvanized him to create a Liberal and Professional Studies Student Association, a support group. Now 18 months old, the club has 200 active members. “Students need help finding the right resource and asking the right questions,” he said.

他的经历刺激他创建了一个支持小组：人文与专业研究学生会(Liberal and Professional Studies Student Association)。如今，这个建立了18个月的小组的活跃成员多达200人。“同学们需要帮助去找到合适的资源，问正确的问题，”他说。

Last month his campus held a conference for older students from other Ivy League institutions. The day-and-a-half event, which included networking, a tour of the campus and details about graduate programs, attracted 70 people.

上个月，学校为其它常春藤联盟的大龄学生举办了一场会议。这个一天半的活动吸引了70名学生，内容包括学生之间的结识交流、校园参观以及研究生课程详述。

Though this activism was unanticipated, Nora Lewis, the vice dean for professional and liberal education at Penn, said older students were drawing from the undergraduate experience. “They are not just learning from the faculty, they are learning from their peers,” she said.

虽然他们的行动主义超出预期，但宾大专业和人文教育副主任诺拉·路易士(Nora Lewis)说，大龄学生们正从大学经历中获益。“他们不仅从老师那里学习，而且在同窗身上学习，”她说。

Her colleague, Dennis DeTurck, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said he found older students more focused. “That’s changing slowly as older students become more plugged into campus life,” he said.

宾大文理学院(College of Arts and Sciences)院长丹尼斯·杜尔克(Dennis DeTurck)说，他觉得大龄学生更加专注。“随着大龄学生渐渐投身于学校生活，他们的状态也在慢慢地变化，”他说。

Lucica Hiller, 32, entered Tufts’s Resumed Education for Adult Learning program two months ago, hoping for a career change. She holds a diploma in economics from a university in her native Romania. After moving to the United States in 2005, she worked for an investment bank but gravitated to an earlier interest in environmental engineering.

两个月前，32岁的卢奇卡·希勒(Lucica Hiller)参加了塔夫茨大学的成人继续教育(Resumed Education for Adult Learning)项目，她希望借此转变职业生涯。她在祖国罗马尼亚的一所大学拿到了经济学文凭。在2005年移民到美国后，她进入一家投资银行工作，但越来越希望追寻自己当年对环境工程的兴趣。

She said college was an adjustment, although she expected the courses to be tougher. “It’s hard to come in as an outsider,” she said. She is learning how to spend more time with her husband, a social worker, but has not yet learned how to spend time with friends. And she said she found it hard not to doubt her decision. “Financially it would make more sense to stay in a job, buy a house, have a kid and meet society and peer expectations,” she said. “My husband is good at telling me I’m happier and it will be just a couple of years.”

虽然她觉得课程还会更难，但她说，大学是一次好的调整。“作为一个外来人，要融入很难，”她说。她正在学习怎样花更多的时间陪伴她当社工的丈夫，但还没有学习怎样和朋友相处。她觉得自己经常怀疑自己。“从财务的角度看，专注一份工作、买套房子、生个孩子并且达到社会和朋友的期望，似乎那样做才更理性，”她说，“我丈夫告诉我要开心点，只要过几年就都能做到了。”

Whether more institutions will welcome older full-time undergraduates is unclear. Patrick Lane, senior policy analyst and project coordinator at the Adult College Completion Network, a clearinghouse for organizations and agencies in Boulder, Colo., said completion rates would not rise if colleges focused only on traditional undergraduates. Currently 22 percent of the population aged 25 to 64 has some college credit but no degree, said the Lumina Foundation, which finances the network.

目前并不清楚是否会有更多的院校愿意接收全职大龄学生。成人高校毕业网络(Adult College Completion Network)是一家位于科罗拉多州博尔德的组织和机构信息交换公司，公司高级政策分析师兼项目协调人帕特里克·莱恩(Patrick Lane)说，如果大学只关心传统的适龄大学生，学生的毕业率便无法提高。资助该网络的光明基金会介绍说，目前，在25-64岁的人口中，有22%的人拥有一些大学学分，但没有文凭。

One stumbling block for would-be students is that each college makes its own rules about which courses they accept for transfer credit. “The pathways between and among institutions are difficult to traverse,” said Susan J. Schurman, dean of the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations.

对于那些想要成为学生的人，他们面临的一个拦路虎是，在接受哪些课程学分的转入方面，每所学校都自己的规定。“不同院校之间的不同规定很难打通，”罗格斯大学管理和劳工关系院(Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations)院长苏珊·舒尔曼(Susan J. Schurman)说。

For now, Ms. Rose’s postgraduate plans remain fluid. She said that she had come to resemble her fellow students in some ways: At times the only way to reach her is on Facebook. Still, she said, she sees a difference: “I have 20 years of life experience to draw on.”

目前，罗丝女士还没有想好毕业后的打算。她说，她在某些方面变得和她的同学一样：有时候唯一能找到她的地方是Facebook网站。不过，她说，她也看到自己和其他人的不同之处：“我有20年的社会经验可以利用。”