Beth Averill juggles a full-time job, five children and obtaining a degree.

By Natalie Cierzan

Nothing about Beth Averill’s return to college has been easy.

For the past three years, Averill has driven nearly an hour every school day from Elk River, Minn. to the Twin Cities campus, and she’s done it while juggling a full-time job, five children and the uncertainties of life itself.

She returned to college after 24 years of running a painting company, called Interior Finishes, which she started in 1993 after graduating from Dakota County Technical College with an interior design degree. Her family also operates a construction company, John Bradley Construction, which they’ve owned for five years.

She made the choice to enter the University of Minnesota’s architecture program not only to advance her standing in the design field, but also to relieve her body of the physical strain of painting. After having back and shoulder surgery — which she’s still recuperating from — she’s now focusing on her degree.

But her return illustrates how tough the road can be for nontraditional students who face obligations at home and challenges in the classroom. What often saves them is their perspectives, their drive and the support that awaits them at home after their long commutes.

As an older student in the architecture program in the College of Design, Averill said she sometimes struggles to put together projects and presentations as fast as younger students.

“It’s harder to adapt to the technology in all of the programs that they throw at us in class,” Averill said.

While she grew up using Adobe and computer-assisted design programs typical for the architecture field, University classes don’t teach the new tools. “They’re not taught in the architecture program. It’s assumed that you already know [them] or that you’re already capable of learning [them] online,” Averill said.

As a student who’s worked in the design field, her expertise has also shown her the faults in the University’s architecture program, like a lack of real-life application and classroom critiques where reviewers tend to be hypercritical.

“It’s really hard to go through school and design mythical projects with a non-existent client that isn’t telling you what they want,” she said, adding that everything is based off of designs or theories instead.

When working with a client in real life, they’re always excited and willing to provide feedback, she said. She’s never experienced a client who’s harsh and critical like the reviewers in the architecture program.

Averill also experiences school differently from her peers because she is an older student with children and a full-time career.

“I don’t need to develop a social circle. I already have one. I don’t need to find friends. I already have them. And I don’t need to find a partner. I already have one, so I just want to be with them,” she said.

Attendance policies don’t do her any favors. Sometimes she can’t make it to class because of snow or an appointment for her child, and even if the absence is excused, it often still negatively impacts her attendance grade for class.

“I’m particularly furious about the fact that when I have a letter from a neurologist saying that I have to do a 24-hour EEG with my daughter … and they said it’s OK, that I have permission to be gone and it’s an excused absence. But an excused absence still means that you’re losing participation points, and I do not understand that,” she said.

Because of many University class attendance policies, Averill has to work even harder to maintain high grades, which sometimes requires making up class or visiting professors at their office hours. It’s difficult to find time for her family due to how busy she is.

“My family gets put on the backburner, and I have a lot of guilt about that,” she said.

Unlike other students, Averill isn’t responsible only for herself. Three of her children are already in college, and a lot of her family’s money goes toward paying for tuition. All of them receive the maximum amount of college financial aid.

Being a licensed architect in Minnesota also requires a master’s degree, which Averill said she’ll probably have to save for a year to get. Her other two children will soon be entering college as well.

“There have been many days where I’ve wanted to just quit,” she said.