Announcements:
***Registration for Summer Semester Begins March 15, 2010.***
Earn up to 8 credits (or non-credit equivalent): Permaculture Design Certificate, Introduction to Sustainability, Native Plants, Teaching Movies that Matter (Mesa State College); Early Childhood Education (Colorado Northwestern Community College 3 credits/class); Spanish; French
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A Bachelor's Degree by Age 50
Telluride Daily Planet, Nov. 16, 2008 by Matt Beaudin
He’s getting too old for this.
Daniel Krauss has done every trade there is here. In his 15 years in the valley, he’s worked for sheet metal shops and for roofing companies. He runs a small construction firm now.
“And I don’t want to end up doing that when I’m 50,” he says.
But if it all works out, he’ll have a bachelor’s degree by that time. He’s 46 now and 47 soon, so the clock is ticking. He’d really like to pick up a teaching certificate while he’s at it — his sister is a professor. It would be nice to ascend her ranks.
Krauss had a scholarship out of high school, but his father fell ill and he moved home. He seeped from college to college after that but never finished.
Next fall, he’ll enroll full time at the University of Phoenix. But right now, he’s working to sock away enough cash to pay for it. He knows there are financial programs floating around, but he’d like to do at least one year on his own dime and take loans toward the end. Ideally, he’ll come back and find a spot teaching mathematics.
“I’ve been here 15 years,” he says. “It’s a great area.”
There is a prologue to all this, and it’s in a tiny office on Colorado Avenue, tucked away behind storefronts. The University Centers of the San Miguel is a small organization that offers a smattering of college course, most of which transfer to state schools.
The UCSM offers courses in childcare, English, Spanish and marketing, just to name a few.
It’s Robyn Wilson’s charge to tend to the UCSM. As its executive director she’s in charge of keeping it moving forward. Or actually moving. Earlier this week, she was moving offices to a smaller space to save money.
“This is a really remote part of the state,” Wilson says. Online classes are available from many colleges, but “that’s not an option for everyone. There are people who don’t understand computers that well,” she says.
And some just want the human contact.
Krauss wandered into a Spanish course one day. He ate it up. After that, he took a history course and then another. He’s in principles of marketing now, and it’s helping him run his small construction company.
He credited local professor Emily Shoff, who teaches English. “She got me to be able to write a decent paper for my history class,” he says. “I aced the course.”
A prevailing theory is that older students care more and study harder. Krauss is no different, professors say.
“For me, it’s really satisfying to work with an adult,” Shoff says. “You get people in there who want to work hard and really want to learn how to write better.”
That’s Krauss. In the beginning, he showed her his notes, just so she knew he was back there, writing away. She actually had to tell him he didn’t need to show her all his work.
“He was willing to send me drafts and meet with me,” Shoff says. “It is touching. It’s refreshing.
You get people who are really enthusiastic about learning and not taking it for granted.”
Wilson also offers college and career counseling. She speaks Spanish, so she can help Latino families, too.
They offer classes for those who might not otherwise go back to school. People 30 or 50 years old who didn’t finish school or never thought it an option.
“They start taking classes and get a few more credits under their belt,” Wilson said.
They use free or very cheap space for classrooms, from the Blue Mesa Building in Mountain Village to the Telluride Middle School and Rebekah Hall.
“There would never be a college here,” Wilson says. “But because we do use very inexpensive public space, we are able to afford having college classes.”
Classes are about $200 each, relatively inexpensive for higher education. Sixty percent of the funding comes from grants. Tuition makes up for another 20 percent, and other contributions round out the budget.
“We’re filling a niche of different continuing education for residents and the workforce,” Wilson says. “Because this is such a small and rural population … there aren’t specific college counselors that often specialize in that.”
So they go to Nucla and Norwood. “That gives the rural schools a specific counselor to help them achieve their goals, which they would receive if they were in a larger area,” Wilson said.
Down the line, UCSM wants to offer more programs that can be completed right here, one of which they hope is a sustainable studies track.
“We’re going to start of offering two classes next semester,” Wilson said.
One will be an intro into sustainability concepts. Another will be sustainable development and public policy. She’s working with Mesa State to set up a certificate.
For Krauss at least, UCSM is the road back to school and then the way forward. “I’m going to try and work toward green business,” he said. “They instilled confidence in me. Everyone’s so optimistic.
“I don’t think it’ll be any problem finishing.”
UCSM is located at 220 E. Colorado, next to the current suite, room 203. Check out ucsanmiguel.org for more information.
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