Continuing Studies provides a way for adults to fulfill dream of degree

Shelly Deckard has been avoiding campus all of her life.

Born and raised in Bloomington and in a family with no college education, she learned to steer clear of the blocks between Third and 10th streets, an area that, until recently, seemed inaccessible to her.

But Deckard, 40, isn’t steering clear of campus anymore — she practically lives on it. She’s one of roughly 800 continuing studies students currently taking classes for a general studies degree on the IU-Bloomington campus.

Deckard, who plans to finish her degree with a concentration in social and behavioral studies in May, graduated high school as a junior but had to put her education on hold when she was left to raise her newborn daughter alone.

Up until now, she worked as a nurse and a real estate assistant before deciding that wasn’t enough. Now her daughter is grown and also a student at IU and Deckard said she was ready to finally finish what she started.

“I wanted an education,” she said. “And IU has always been at my back door all my life.”

With a normal course load consisting of 16 to 17 credit hours in classes ranging from criminal justice to anthropology, Deckard said balancing work and school became too difficult last year so she quit her job to focus on school full-time. Because of this, Deckard said her retirement savings are gone and she still has no idea how to pay her bills through May.

But through all the stress she’s still happy.

“I tell people that I’m poor but I’m happy,” she said. “As a single parent you learn to juggle whatever you have to juggle to make things happen because you’re the only one who’s going to make it happen. That’s really prepared for me being here now.”

Though she’s managed to procure a few scholarships and grants, Deckard said it was the people at the Bloomington Continuing Studies program that helped her the most.

The program has been helping adults since 1975, said Executive Director Ron White, and allows non-traditional students to tailor a general studies degree to meet their needs. Students are required to take courses in areas encompassing the arts and humanities, science, mathematics and the social and behavioral sciences in order to obtain either an Associate of Arts or a Bachelor of General Studies degree.

“General Studies is IU’s degree program specifically for adults,” White said. “It operates on each of the eight IU campuses.”

Along with the General Studies degree, the division also offers Lifelong Learning classes for adults to take just for fun. These classes typically revolve around the arts and humanities, while the degree program is meant to appeal to adults seeking to further their professional credentials, White said.

Kyla Cox, director of communications and outreach, said the Bloomington Continuing Studies program’s primary goal is to connect with members of the local community and give them the resources to further their careers.

“Our focus is definitely on Bloomington and the surrounding communities,” Cox said. “There are a lot of people who live here who never really got to experience IU, so this is a good way for adults in the community to take advantage of the resources we have.”

Because most adults work a full-time job, Cox said there are many classes offered in the evening, but people seeking the bachelor of general studies typically take classes throughout the day with the rest of the undergraduate students on campus. Deckard is one of these. She said she spends around six to eight hours a day on campus. 

Though she’s not quite sure what she wants to do after graduation and she’s almost broke, Deckard said getting a degree is one of the best things she’s ever done, and encourages anyone considering it to go ahead and try.

“Just do it, jump in with both feet,” she said. “If it’s even a question in their mind, they need to act on it, they need to go back, because there’s a way, there’s always a way. Look for the resources. They’re there.”