UW Fond du Lac Welcomes Non-Traditional Students to Campus

The college experience and education is not just reserved for young students fresh out of high school. Many adults and nontraditional students also take advantage of having university campuses like UW-Fond du Lac and UW-Oshkosh so close by. 

Assistant Dean of Administrative Services Bethany Rusch tells us the connection of younger and older students creates an interesting environment. Rusch thinks “there’s a pretty healthy respect for each other and what each others perspectives are coming in. And that’s certainly, obviously one of the pieces that we really promote in a liberal arts education is that critical thinking and respect for other peoples opinions and life experiences, so it adds to a really neat dynamic in the classroom when you’re bringing folks together from all walks of life.”

Student Services
Coordinator Jill Bangart says sometimes students struggle during their first stop in college – and are hoping for another shot. She tells us “we are an access institution so the door is not closed for those
students and we do recognize certainly the maturity and how those life
experiences since high school have definitely developed who they are today. And
that’s a very different person than they were those years ago. So we are
definitely going to give them that second chance to dust themselves off and get
back on track.”

Bangart also mentions that students who may have been close to graduation and didn’t finish school should talk to a four-year university. But with the recent merger, those students can find UW-Oshkosh advisors at the UW-Fond du Lac campus.