Re-Entry Students Face Hurdles for a Degree

Evicted from her Thousand Oaks apartment, Gladys Battle walked to the campus of Cal Lutheran University, sat on a bench outside the college president’s office and began to cry.

“I didn’t have a place to go. I didn’t have a place to stay. I didn’t know what to do,” said Battle, who could not pay her rent with a $496-a-month welfare check.

College officials helped Battle that day in September, 1993, finding a way to tide her over until school started and her student loan checks arrived.

But for the 47-year-old single mother of two who went back to school in 1992, eviction was just one in a series of challenges to be overcome on her way to a college diploma.

Thursday was the first day of the spring semester at Cal Lutheran, and Battle walked across campus dispensing hugs to anyone within hugging range.

While in her embrace, senior Shari Cohen confided that she had just secured an interview for a job after graduation.

“That’s great,” Battle said warmly.

College officials say Battle’s age and financial needs distinguish her from typical students, but that she is one of a growing number of students at colleges nationwide who have returned to school after being away for years.

“A lot of people need to get a second wind, and education is one of those ways,” said Kathryn A. Swanson, director of re-entry services at 1,800-student Cal Lutheran. She said more than 600 re-entry students are seeking degrees.

The college provides special services to re-entry students, including tutoring, free local telephone calls to check on children, and a microwave and refrigerator at a campus center for such students.

While the older students go back to college for a variety of reasons, many are newly divorced women who return to support their families. Others want to change careers, or “come back . . . to get the degree they never got as a young person.”

Battle said she went back to school to make more money. “It’s getting so that if you don’t have a B.A., you can’t find a good-paying job,” she said. She hopes to make $60,000 a year in hotel management or personnel administration.

But money was not the only reason Battle returned to college. She also wanted to inspire her daughter, Crystal, 21, who lives in Los Angeles and dropped out of school at 15.

Battle is still working on her daughter. But her 12-year-old son Henry wants to be an architect, she said.

Battle enrolled at Cal Lutheran 25 years after dropping out of Los Angeles City College. She was aware of Cal Lutheran because of a special weekend black culture program, and was quickly admitted.

But returning to school was a struggle from the start.

“The first semester was really tough for me,” Battle said. Her grades were so low that she ended up on probation.

“I thought I was this grown person,” she said. “I had to learn how to study.”

The school does not provide housing to students with children, so Battle has had to rent a series of rooms in private homes for herself and her son.

Even transportation has proved to be a problem. Without a car, Battle takes the bus to school. Or she walks as much as five miles each way with a backpack full of books.

Battle, who is black, said passing drivers have yelled racial slurs at her.

“Sometimes it’s hard,” she said, “but I do what I need to do.”

Battle has completed five semesters and has three to go. Her grades have improved each semester, she said.

“Last semester I got two A’s, and one was from a teacher I didn’t think could write an A,” she said.

Said her communications professor, Beverly Kelley: “She earned it. She did a real good job.”

Despite all the hardship, Battle said going back to school has been worth the trouble.

“It’s something that I have achieved, and it’s been a success,” she said. “I didn’t think I could make it this far, but I have.”

Administrators and students at Cal Lutheran said they are glad Battle has persevered. Last month, she was honored with an Inspiration Award at the school’s Santa Lucia festival.

“She’s so giving even when she doesn’t have a lot for herself,” said Laurie Holderness, 35, a re-entry student who works and goes to school full time.

Swanson said Battle took up a collection at Thanksgiving to buy a turkey for another student.

“I get discouraged and then I think, ‘Look at Gladys,’ ” Holderness said. “She’s just been a complete inspiration to me.”