On one of her busier days, Tonia McFadden wakes up about 6 a.m. and hops in the shower.

Shortly thereafter, the audiology and speech sciences junior wakes her 15-month-old son, Zachary Shantry, and gets him dressed and ready.

By ten after seven, they’re out the door.

Zachary’s then dropped off at day care so McFadden can make it to her job at University Stores, where she works 12 hours a week.

She stays there until noon, and then she’s off to classes, which get underway around 12:40 p.m.

After class, she catches a bus home, then drives to Zachary’s day care to pick him up around 5 p.m. The two of them have dinner together, and play.

The toddler is in bed around 9 p.m., and it’s then that McFadden finally gets time to study.

“It’s not too bad going to school, with Zach,” McFadden says. “The only times when it doesn’t work out great is when he gets sick.”

That’s when things get complicated.

She has no backup plan. Her mother works full-time, and is unable to baby-sit.

So McFadden has few choices. She stays home.

“It’s definitely harder,” she says. “But it’s 100 percent worth it because just to see him smile and want his mom, it’s just so worth it.”

McFadden is just one of many students who fit the “nontraditional” billing, balancing school and a child. Her life clearly differs from that of a “stereotypical student,” but she says she wouldn’t change it.

There are resources

Students like McFadden, who are forced to balance two lives - their’s and their child’s - have resources available to them, via the university.

Lori Strom is the coordinator of Child and Family Care Resources for MSU, an office that was opened in 1993 after a campuswide survey researched the need of child care and elder care.

The office’s purpose is to provide resources such as referrals, emergency backup child care, sick child care, parenting classes, elder care classes and free child care some evenings before finals week.

“As far as serving students, it helps attract and retain (them),” Strom said. “If they know we’re there to support them then they don’t have to quit school.”

Having such options available is appealing to many students, but some student parents say the secret to success lies with time management.

Teberah Alexander didn’t quit school when she had her now 2-year-old daughter, Amiya - in fact, she went into labor while walking home from a class freshman year.

She says by not wasting the little free time she has, she manages to somehow juggle nursing classes and her daughter’s hectic schedule.

“I do the best that I can by managing my time,” Alexander said. “I don’t have any time to waste.”

Before her 8 a.m. classes, Alexander, a first-year nursing student, has to wake up at 5:30 a.m. and dress and feed Amiya before taking her to Okemos Kid’s Club, where she goes for day care.

In addition to attending school, Alexander participates in many extracurricular activities: She takes care of her 76-year-old grandmother on the weekends; is a member of Chi Eta Phi Sorority Inc., a nursing sorority for minorities; volunteers some weekends at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit; and is a substitute teacher at St. Luke/St. Brigid Catholic School in Detroit on breaks from school.

It would be easy to leave school behind.

But Alexander says she’s determined to earn her degree - for her daughter.

“I want to further my education to open doors for her that weren’t open for me and give her the opportunities that I didn’t have,” she said, saying her daughter now attends ballet classes, takes gymnastics and has swim lessons.

There is a support group available for students such as Alexander and McFadden - it began when the Office of Child and Family Care Resources opened.

Student Parents on a Mission, which now has more than 100 members, helps parents with various programs and provides support groups for students.

Michelle Artibee, an interpersonal communications freshman, said the group is very helpful. Artibee has a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Katelyn.

“We meet once a month, usually in the evening,” she said. The Office of Child and Family Care Resources “pays for the free child care for that evening. We usually have dinner together. We learn about financial aid, we learn about dealing with depression.

“Mostly you network with other people who you have things in common with.”

Coming back to school

Like Alexander and the other student parents, Ray Ostos wants to get to the top.

“I would like to get into a position to make a difference, kind of get to the top,” said Ostos, 32, a second-year doctoral student.

“No one in my family has a Ph.D. degree and I thought it would kind of be a role model for my younger cousins. I’m doing it for myself and kind of my family as well.”

Each day, Ostos balances working on his doctorate in agricultural extension education as well as working full-time on a three-year leave from MSU Extension Service as a liaison for the United States Department of Agriculture. As a liaison, he visits different schools and promotes USDA activities.

Ostos received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural education from New Mexico State University, but he said coming back to school is different this time around.

“Last Monday in my research class we had a test, and it’s been awhile since I’ve had a formal test so I was kind of nervous,” he says. “Working full-time and going to school full-time, it keeps you busy.”

He said he doesn’t get to socialize as much.

After all, there is much more of a focus on learning in graduate courses than undergraduate, he said.

“I guess we got all the partying out of us,” he said. “All of my time spent here is really work or study.”

Sandra Buike, director of academic affairs for lifelong education at MSU, said many people are coming back to school for different reasons than those common years ago.

In the 1960s and ’70s, single mothers with young children attending MSU was more prevalent than it is today, she said.

Now, many returning students are coming back to school after serving time in the armed services.

“We also have an influx of folks who’ve retired from a position and they’re looking to see if they want another career,” Buike said.

Today, many “nontraditional” students can simply take online courses - and earn advanced degrees without even stepping on campus.

But Robert Church, vice provost for university outreach, said it’s better for returning students to participate in class with other students than simply enroll in the Virtual University - even though online courses often fit better into one’s schedule.

“I have a feeling that being in class with other people builds your confidence more than being in a chatroom,” Church said.

He said many returning students have more of an advantage over college-aged students, though, because many already have real-world experience.

But there is one main problem such students face.

“On this campus, the primary problem for nontraditional students, especially the ones who are trying to get day degrees, is that they can’t park,” he said.

“Not being on campus to come to (faculty) office hours, makes it somewhat more difficult.”

It’s different this time around

Vicki Broge also took a class at MSU, but she didn’t have to drive to East Lansing.

Broge participated in an MSU class on analyzing community asset building in Muskegon, in the College of Human Ecology.

She now says she’s pondering coming back to school, but not to benefit financially.

“(I want to) just for further personal education,” said Broge, 43, who has lifelong education status. “The angle I wanted to take was going back to the business school but it appears you have to be on campus full-time.”

Broge is the business and accounting supervisor for the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District. She was previously an accounting major at Muskegon Business College, where she received her bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting. She earned her master’s from Grand Valley State University.

Her class was offered through the MSU Extension program, which offers classes for ten degrees, three certificates, one professional certificate and one endorsement in six regions throughout the state.

With working a full-time job, she’s not sure if she’d be able to come back and get her doctoral degree.

“It’s hard to carve out time to study and do things when you’re busy with other things in your life,” Broge said. “You’d have to fit it around taking night classes or weekend classes.

“Unfortunately, I have to work.”

Some students think coming back to school is better than having to go through the traditional route.

Kenneth Ackley graduated from MSU in 1997 with a degree in horticulture, but now he’s back.

Ackley, now 27, is taking prerequisite classes as a lifelong education student before he goes to dental school at the University of Michigan in the fall. And he said coming to MSU is different this time around.

“For one, I feel like I’m more mature and I take it a little bit more serious,” he said. “It might be a little more different for me to do because I’m also working full-time and I have a family and I commute.”

Ackley said his return trip is worthwhile.

He says he knew his junior year of college that horticulture was not the degree for him.

“If I were to do this from the get-go, I’d be graduating from dental school in May, but I probably wouldn’t be married or have a son so no, I don’t regret it,” he said. “I think when I get done I’ll be 30 and even more mature then and ready to be a doctor.

“I don’t have any regrets.”

Kristyne E. Demske can be reached at demskekr@msu.edu.