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The real world can be daunting to those who've never been in it.

Some people may not realize this, but being a non-traditional college student may be one of the hardest experiences in someone’s life. And when I refer to non-traditional, I’m referring to that rare breed of student: independent, with a family, a mortgage, a full-time job. Actually, you need not to even include to full-time job. Just consider someone like myself – a husband and a father – those alone being a full-time commitment. Then add in a full-time job, and we’ll sprinkle a full-time education on top. So go ahead and work three full-time jobs, all three requiring a lot out of you, and you will soon get a taste of their life.

The typical traditional student is much younger, still considered a dependent. Many of the permanent concepts of real life, including the real responsibilities, are not yet on the plate. Their school might be paid by family, by scholarships, or through student loans. They may work a part time job – wait staff is probably the number one college job – and the rest of the time is either in class, studying, or hanging out and having fun.

Non-traditionals, not so much. They generally don’t have the option of hanging out and having fun. The concepts of the real world are real to them. The bills are real, the responsibilities are real. The traditional student concept of owing for college “oh, that’s in the future,” doesn’t apply: they see that amount and they KNOW what that costs.

Non-traditional students are a very important mix into the college community too. While the younger students may bring in fresher minds (and bodies), non-traditional students usually bring in a ground sense that is required to survive the real world. They provide a balance to the free-living lifestyle of so many college students.

I’m writing this because I’m a non-traditional student, I understand the difficulties first hand. The stress of waking up early, putting in 40, 50, even 60+ hours a week, dragging myself to class in the evening, doping myself with steady streams of caffeine half the night in order to get my homework done. How to spend so much time away from your family, while doing everything you can to hold it together. I also know how it begins to wear you down, slowly at first, then eventually depleting your energy, yet still fighting on to get it over and done with.

And it surprises me that there are not more financial options out there for non-traditionals. Sure, there are some scholarships out there specifically for non-traditionals, but not too much else. In the FAFSA application, we might be treated as dependant students, but generally, we are treated the same as traditionals. We don’t have parents to help, and we didn’t spend the last 18 years of our lives planning on sending ourselves to college.

It also shocks me, given the number of MBA grads who completed their MBA’s at night, while working full-time. Every one I’ve talked to who went down this path made many points to which I can easily relate. Working full-time while doing it may make you stronger, but after a couple of years it wears you out. Grades drift down towards the end, and we are thankful for just getting through it alive. But for those MBA students, they had the easy option of calling it done.

But what about students like myself. Finishing up at a 2 year, getting ready to begin my 4 year this fall. Hopefully early entry into the graduate program. By the time it is all said and done, I will have been through this for around 8 years. Yet what extra help will I get for this? Minimal at best.

I think it is time we start making some changes for non-traditional students. The government (and society) has incentives to do this too. Let’s take people who were in the workforce earning X dollars, people are productive members of society who already understand the realities of society, and get them a college education. Now you have people earning 2X, 3X, 4X, even 5X, who bring in extremely valuable skill sets not found in the typical college grad. The government gets more taxes; society gains more knowledgeable, productive members. Companies get well trained employees that are naturally more adept at being responsible and is already used to making tough decisions that affect others.

What I suggest is a program specifically for non-traditional students. Students who are independent and receive no financial help from their parents. Students who have families of their own. Students who own their own home or have been long time renters. Students who are working full-time and have a history of working full-time. Why can’t the government subsidize a percentage of their income, provide health insurance benefits, pay for school or mostly pay for school. Not off of standardized numbers. Based upon how much their earn compared to how much they pay out.

Provide these students an opportunity to reduce their working hours, to help even up the playing field with traditional students. Non-traditionals are proud, we take care of ourselves, but we wouldn’t mind the hand up. Can’t we get a break?

Anyone paying for college knows the feeling

FFELP? That’s short for the Federal Family Education Loan Program. If you have a federal Stafford or PLUS student loan, odds are you got it through the FFELP. It is the private student loan program subsidized by the federal government. It is also the program that came under fire a couple of years back for kick-backs to colleges for sending student borrowers their way.

Now it looks like the Obama may be cutting it out completely, leaving only the Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP). While there are specific benefits to taxpayers by removing public subsidies (the administration believes it can save taxpayers $4 billion a year, and $47.5 billion in the first 10 years, mainly from subsidy removal), the benefits to borrows (students and their parents) aren’t so clear.

Why? Most FFELP lenders offer rate reductions for qualified buyers. Take for example the NC Advantage Program through the CFI (and endorsed through the College Foundation of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Union, etc.) offers savings for automatic draft. For loans before September 20th of last year, a student loan could get a 1% reduction for making your first payment on time, and another 1.5% off for using automatic draft. While not so glamorous, even its .25% discount for automatic draft is still worth it (bring the rate to approximately 6.55%, in line with many automobile loans).

The administration has not made it clear if it will offer any type of rate reductions or incentives. Overall, this could be a good move for students and parents if they decide it drop rates across the board. However, looking at the recent bubble burt reminds us of the dangers of easy money.

Being a college student who may need to get a loan after transferring, this is of particular interest to me. We’ll have to watch and see what the administration does. Although there are significant reasons that these types of loans should be moved to be strictly governmental, the move should be done not just to help the taxpayer, but improves the borrowing situation for students. These loans are for a very specific purpose, and their value should not be lost just to bean counters.

But while we are on the topic of paying for college, Congress needs to set its sight on another, maybe even more important goal. Cleaning up the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as the FAFSA. Anyone who has ever filled it out knows that it nearly takes a postgraduate to fill out this thing. It may be a free application, but you pay for it in time and confusion. They did away with some of the confusion by moving it strictly online, but it is still painful and difficult. I have one out every year, and honestly, I look forward to finals week more. You can see more on the problems with the FAFSA here.

And for my final $0.02 worth, there is one change that I believe is worth of merit. Currently, individuals under the age of 24 MUST claim their parents’ and/or legal guardians’ income. While for a number of students this makes sense, given that they are only independent because they are off to college, but in the essential use, they are still dependents. However, there are students who are penalized hard with this requirement. Take for example myself. My wife and I were married young and had a child young (I was 21, she was 19). We were completely independent, owning our own home, raising our own child, and receiving very little financial from any relatives. The most we got was free child care. In our first year of marriage, we earned about $27,000. Guess what, neither one of us could get financial aid. A couple of years later I finally started going to school, and was paying completely out of pocket because I was still unable to collect financial aid. Thankfully community college is affordable, but books are still ridiculous. I was smart enough to scrape during the semester to have enough for the next. Finally, the year I turned 24, I was finally eligible for financial aid. I had to scrape and starve to pay for that fall semester, so when I found out I was getting a refund because I got aid, relieved would not cover it.

I made too much last year though, and I’m not eligible for the Pell Grant, NC Community College Incentive, or the NC Lottery grants anymore. Unfortunately, in order to get scholarships (I wouldn’t have been able to afford this semester without a scholarship), I still have to fill out that damned form. I’d rather do my taxes again.