Non-traditional students find home at community college
By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer
At 21, Michael Fitzgibbons graduated from Babson College in Massachusetts with a degree in finance and a career path in front of him. But three years ago, at age of 50, Fitzgibbons and his family hit rock bottom after he lost his job as district manager at an automotive paint shop, spent 25 years of savings in two years and turned back to his mother and father for support.
“I can handle losing everything but not having my mom and dad watch it,” said Fitzgibbons.
Last February, Fitzgibbon’s father died, but while he was in the hospital he gave his son a plan for the future: “He said to me, why don’t you do something like this, in the hospital.”
So he did.
Fitzgibbons is one of many non-traditional students enrolled at Southern Maine Community College seeking an education for a new career. For Fitzgibbons that means taking a break from sales and studying the health field.
Maine Community College System have seen a record growth in students seeking degrees, from 12,264 in the fall 2008 to 13,817 in the fall of 2009, a 12.7 percent increase across its seven college campuses.
SMCC President Jim Ortiz said enrollment in South Portland alone rose to 6,270 students, a nine percent growth.
Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons attributes that increase to job losses and insecurity in hard economic times, when many people want to learn new skills through higher education. The community college system offers the lowest tuition in the state and academic programs specifically geared toward Maine’s job market.
“If you lose your career and you’re a man it’s a death and you really go through the grieving process. Denial, that’s when you empty your 401k out, and then anger, with two real modes, you crawl into a bottle or you can pull up your bootstraps,” said Fitzgibbons.
Fitzgibbons pulled up his bootstraps and is currently halfway through his three-year program for respiratory therapy. He works two jobs – one job to help support his family and one job at the campus gym where SMCC students can work to pay back college loans directly to the school – all while maintaining A and B grades in his classes.
“The world is in bankruptcy,” said Fitzgibbons, “ The reality is, I chose health care because it will be the very last industry to fall.”
Fitzgibbons went back to school to help support his family, but Paul Curbow is at SMCC because he lost his family.
After four years of marriage, Curbow and his wife separated in late January. Curbow, 40, of South Portland, had worked in the construction business since he was 16 when he dropped out of high school in Kansas. Years later, he met his wife and they moved to Maine so she could pursue a degree at the University of Southern Maine. He stayed at home to help around the house and with her schoolwork and activities.
“She would tell me I was the smartest person she ever met,” Curbow said, “She pushed me to go to school, but I never thought it was for me.”
After their separation, Curbow became homeless, living in his truck, with no job prospects because an operation kept him from working construction.
Before helping his wife with her schoolwork, Curbow said he never spent time on a computer and didn’t even have an e-mail address. After playing around on campus computers, Curbow was able to figure out how to set up community networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, without ever setting foot in a classroom.
Curbow is in his first semester at college, studying communications new media.
“It’s hard being homeless and trying to keep up with school work,” said Curbow.
Both Curbow and Fitzgibbons work on SMCC campus to help pay for their classes. Without financial aid and the campus job, Curbow could not afford to attend school, even with the low tuition.
The low tuition helps the Fitzgibbons family live an “adequate” lifestyle, but he says the extras do not come easily.
“We’re as close as ever, but it’s a lie to say the money issue doesn’t cause stress,” he said, “It takes a lifetime to discover the reality of how much money it costs to make a life go.”
The community college system is seeing the greatest demand in nursing and allied health professions, trades, business management, computer and multi-media technology, culinary arts, automotive technology, criminal justice and early childhood education. Many programs have more applicants than spaces for students. In nursing, for example, 1,284 people applied for 208 slots.
The colleges have seen an 84 percent jump in degree enrollment since the fall of 2002, when the colleges transitioned from technical to community schools.
The system tries to keep classes relevant to the students’ needs by adding and deleting programs year-round, depending on student enrollment in the concurrent degree programs, according to the colleges trustees.
Three new classes were recently added to the college course catalog: York County Community college added a class in medical assisting, Eastern Maine Community College added one class in digital graphic design and Kennebec Valley Community College will offer computer aided drafting and design.
Fitzgibbons hopes to graduate from SMCC in the spring of 2011 and work in the respiratory therapy field for at least three years, but may go back to his roots in sales, selling medical equipment to hospitals.
“I’m excited about the future I’ve chosen,” said Gibbons
Curbow also is hopeful about the future and using his computer skills in communications to establish a new networking program with funding he hopes to receive after he has a degree.
The future for the seven campuses in MCCS is not as clear. The spike in students has put some demands on the campuses.
The colleges still offers open enrollment – every student who applies will be accepted if they meet the colleges proficiency levels – even with the growth in students on campus, but students may have to wait a few semesters to finish their degrees.
The colleges will have space in general education courses open for students proficient in core subjects like math and English.
If students are not proficient in these core subjects, MCCS will find adult education in the students’ location, and the colleges will work with students until they get up to speed.
A student may enroll in liberal studies to obtain the credits needed in their general education courses and wait for a slot to open in their major courses.
“We are deeply restrained by the state budget,” said Helen Pelletier, the director of public affairs for MCCS, “We are doing all we can with the resources available to us.”
Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233
Staff Writer
At 21, Michael Fitzgibbons graduated from Babson College in Massachusetts with a degree in finance and a career path in front of him. But three years ago, at age of 50, Fitzgibbons and his family hit rock bottom after he lost his job as district manager at an automotive paint shop, spent 25 years of savings in two years and turned back to his mother and father for support.
“I can handle losing everything but not having my mom and dad watch it,” said Fitzgibbons.
Last February, Fitzgibbon’s father died, but while he was in the hospital he gave his son a plan for the future: “He said to me, why don’t you do something like this, in the hospital.”
So he did.
Fitzgibbons is one of many non-traditional students enrolled at Southern Maine Community College seeking an education for a new career. For Fitzgibbons that means taking a break from sales and studying the health field.
Maine Community College System have seen a record growth in students seeking degrees, from 12,264 in the fall 2008 to 13,817 in the fall of 2009, a 12.7 percent increase across its seven college campuses.
SMCC President Jim Ortiz said enrollment in South Portland alone rose to 6,270 students, a nine percent growth.
Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons attributes that increase to job losses and insecurity in hard economic times, when many people want to learn new skills through higher education. The community college system offers the lowest tuition in the state and academic programs specifically geared toward Maine’s job market.
“If you lose your career and you’re a man it’s a death and you really go through the grieving process. Denial, that’s when you empty your 401k out, and then anger, with two real modes, you crawl into a bottle or you can pull up your bootstraps,” said Fitzgibbons.
Fitzgibbons pulled up his bootstraps and is currently halfway through his three-year program for respiratory therapy. He works two jobs – one job to help support his family and one job at the campus gym where SMCC students can work to pay back college loans directly to the school – all while maintaining A and B grades in his classes.
“The world is in bankruptcy,” said Fitzgibbons, “ The reality is, I chose health care because it will be the very last industry to fall.”
Fitzgibbons went back to school to help support his family, but Paul Curbow is at SMCC because he lost his family.
After four years of marriage, Curbow and his wife separated in late January. Curbow, 40, of South Portland, had worked in the construction business since he was 16 when he dropped out of high school in Kansas. Years later, he met his wife and they moved to Maine so she could pursue a degree at the University of Southern Maine. He stayed at home to help around the house and with her schoolwork and activities.
“She would tell me I was the smartest person she ever met,” Curbow said, “She pushed me to go to school, but I never thought it was for me.”
After their separation, Curbow became homeless, living in his truck, with no job prospects because an operation kept him from working construction.
Before helping his wife with her schoolwork, Curbow said he never spent time on a computer and didn’t even have an e-mail address. After playing around on campus computers, Curbow was able to figure out how to set up community networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, without ever setting foot in a classroom.
Curbow is in his first semester at college, studying communications new media.
“It’s hard being homeless and trying to keep up with school work,” said Curbow.
Both Curbow and Fitzgibbons work on SMCC campus to help pay for their classes. Without financial aid and the campus job, Curbow could not afford to attend school, even with the low tuition.
The low tuition helps the Fitzgibbons family live an “adequate” lifestyle, but he says the extras do not come easily.
“We’re as close as ever, but it’s a lie to say the money issue doesn’t cause stress,” he said, “It takes a lifetime to discover the reality of how much money it costs to make a life go.”
The community college system is seeing the greatest demand in nursing and allied health professions, trades, business management, computer and multi-media technology, culinary arts, automotive technology, criminal justice and early childhood education. Many programs have more applicants than spaces for students. In nursing, for example, 1,284 people applied for 208 slots.
The colleges have seen an 84 percent jump in degree enrollment since the fall of 2002, when the colleges transitioned from technical to community schools.
The system tries to keep classes relevant to the students’ needs by adding and deleting programs year-round, depending on student enrollment in the concurrent degree programs, according to the colleges trustees.
Three new classes were recently added to the college course catalog: York County Community college added a class in medical assisting, Eastern Maine Community College added one class in digital graphic design and Kennebec Valley Community College will offer computer aided drafting and design.
Fitzgibbons hopes to graduate from SMCC in the spring of 2011 and work in the respiratory therapy field for at least three years, but may go back to his roots in sales, selling medical equipment to hospitals.
“I’m excited about the future I’ve chosen,” said Gibbons
Curbow also is hopeful about the future and using his computer skills in communications to establish a new networking program with funding he hopes to receive after he has a degree.
The future for the seven campuses in MCCS is not as clear. The spike in students has put some demands on the campuses.
The colleges still offers open enrollment – every student who applies will be accepted if they meet the colleges proficiency levels – even with the growth in students on campus, but students may have to wait a few semesters to finish their degrees.
The colleges will have space in general education courses open for students proficient in core subjects like math and English.
If students are not proficient in these core subjects, MCCS will find adult education in the students’ location, and the colleges will work with students until they get up to speed.
A student may enroll in liberal studies to obtain the credits needed in their general education courses and wait for a slot to open in their major courses.
“We are deeply restrained by the state budget,” said Helen Pelletier, the director of public affairs for MCCS, “We are doing all we can with the resources available to us.”
Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233
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