Non-traditional students, the College's designation for students matriculating at age 25 or older, have formed a group to help other atypical undergraduates make an easier transition to college life.
Club founder James von Rittmann, a 31-year-old junior, said the group aims to welcome new older students and to propose changes to housing and financial aid procedures that are not adapted to the needs of non-traditional students.
There are 23 non-traditional students on campus ranging in age from 25 to 52. Seven are married and some are single parents, according to Rittmann.
Students who matriculated years ago but have returned after taking time off are not considered non-traditional students. They are called "active olders," but Rittmann said he also encouraged these students to join the group.
Rittmann said non-traditional students are often excluded from aspects of the normal College experience, such as Dartmouth Outing Club trips for first-year students. He said he would like to organize a trip for incoming non-traditional students next year.
He also said most non-traditional students want to become more integrated, but they also want to be acknowledged for their differences.
"We joke around and call it the Geritol club. We generally go to bed earlier and don't listen to music as loud," Rittmann said. "We have interrupted our lives to come here, and we tend to have more focus."
Dorrie Bright, a 32-year-old freshman, said she empathizes with the concerns of non-traditional students, but she has no real complaints about her experience.
She said it is important that the non-traditional students interact with younger students and do not overemphasize their differences from the rest of the student body.
"As older members of the community, we are role models to much of the student body," Bright said. "Because of this natural influence, it is all the more important that we not restrict ourselves to socializing with each other. But of course, we have to be confident in our sense of self before we can be that positive influence, and a support group can help there."
Rittmann said he would like to see a floor in a campus dormitory reserved for non-traditional students so they might better benefit from each other's experiences.
Robert DiSessa, a 27-year-old senior, said he would have jumped at the opportunity to live with people closer to his own age.
"It is not that I don't want to hang out with regular Dartmouth students, but I do not want to be up until 3 a.m. with people banging on my door," DiSessa said. "If they had had specialized housing, I definitely would have been interested - just a separate floor, not a convalescent home."
Lynn Rosenblum, the housing assignments administrator, said because there are so few non-traditional students in comparison to the 4,000 or so traditional students, reserving a floor for the older students is not likely.
The current members of the group also aim to provide advice for new non-traditionals. Tamara Brock '94, who is 29, said she views the group as a forum in which non-traditional students can share experiences and benefit from what other similar students have learned.
"I see it as a way to break into Dartmouth socially," DiSessa said. "It is not that we don't fit in, but it is nice to have a group of people with similar experiences."
Brock said she would also like to see policies formalized that would exempt non-traditionals from going through a lot of "bureaucratic red tape" involving meal plans, financial aid and housing.
"For example, I am a single mother and it would be silly for me to have a meal plan," Brock said. "I have to apply for a waiver each time, and everyone is very cooperative but it is a pain to have to keep doing it."
"Another thing is financial aid," Brock continued. "Older students have different expenses, and having a child, I am forced to live off campus. It would be nice if we could have help securing loans. And sophomore summer I had to go through a long official process to be exempted from living on campus."
Brock said she thinks there should be an organized way for non-traditional students to meet one another at matriculation, and Bright said she thought it would be helpful for older prospective students to meet campus non-traditionals during their visit to the College.
DiSessa said that as a transfer student he did not participate in a formal orientation program.
"I remember standing in the wrong line at registration for an hour and not knowing what NROs and HBs were for the longest time," DiSessa said.
Brock said she used to have trouble juggling child care and attending activities scheduled for the evenings.
"At the beginning, daycare was a big problem. I took Math 3, after not having any math in 10 or 12 years," Brock said. "I ended up dropping the course because I could not get the help I needed. All the study sessions were scheduled for the evenings."
"You cannot be as involved as you want to be, and Dartmouth daycare is outrageously priced," Brock said. "There is no way that an undergraduate could afford it unless they have a trust fund."
According to Susan Lloyd, director of the child care resource office at the College, daycare in the Hanover area costs approximately $400 a month at family daycare homes and, on average, $600 a month at child care centers.
The Dartmouth College Child Care Center is only for faculty and employees of the College, but the child care resource office helps students locate other day care resources in the area, Lloyd said.
"Child care for undergraduate parents is an issue and will become more of an issue as the student body becomes more diverse and less traditional," Lloyd said.
Brock and Rittmann both said they would like to have organized opportunities to meet Dartmouth graduate students who are closer to their ages and share many of their interests.
The group has only met twice and is still in the planning stages, but Brock said they have discussed having 1995 Class Dean Lisa Thum as their formal advisor.
"They're Dartmouth students. If there are ways the College can better serve their needs, I'm certainly interested in hearing about it," Dean of the College Lee Pelton said.
