Back to school and living in the dorms — at 60
Modesto Bee 2/26/07
About the only thing that might seem out of place is Barrentine.
Barrentine, 60, loves living on campus at California State University, Stanislaus. She's excited about the energy at the dorms, meeting new people from different backgrounds and always having someone with whom to chat.
But Barrentine is a little different from her roommates and neighbors — she's old enough to be their mom. On move-in days, the older residents get mistaken for parents of dorm students.
"I love being here. I feel younger just walking down the sidewalk," Barrentine said. "I can't help it. It's energy you immediately sense."
Barrentine is one of about 20 nontraditional students — people older than 25 — living in the dorms. Barrentine had been out of school for 37 years. She's working toward a master's degree in history so she can teach at a college.
She moved in last month and plans on staying in the dorms until she graduates in the spring of 2009.
She admits being anxious after deciding where to live.
"I was like, 'Oh, my God, what kind of roommates will I get and what will they think of me?'" she said.
Barrentine rooms with three other students — two younger women and another older student, 49-year-old Myra Ratzesberger. They have their own bedrooms but share two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room.
Dorm residents fill out short surveys, but officials don't match roommates based solely on the answers.
'There's never a dull moment'
While the two younger students declined to be interviewed, Barrentine and Ratzesberger said the four get along well despite the generation gap.
The four have different schedules so they don't see each other too often.
"There's never a dull moment. There's usually something going on (at the dorms) 24-7," Barrentine said.
Barrentine fits in for the most part. She's learned the "cool" way to carry her key chain — putting the keys in her pocket and letting the lanyard hang out.
Noise is not a problem — resident advisers take care of it, Barrentine said. The rest, she adjusts to.
"The first time I came out of my room and fell over a man, I was like 'Ahhh, OK,'" she said.
Younger and older dorm residents can have different priorities, with younger students obsessed with their looks, friendship drama, talking on cell phones and text messaging throughout the day. Barrentine and Ratzesberger say both groups can learn from each other.
"It's great that I'm 60. I'm glad I don't have to do it all over again," Barrentine said. "They still have to get out there and have life slap them around a little. I would not wish that on anybody."
Roommates are encouraging
Barrentine and Ratzesberger said their roommates are very encouraging.
"They give us advice if it looks like we need it," usually when the older students need help figuring out their computers or cell phones, Ratzesberger said with a chuckle.
After raising her two children, Ratzesberger went back to college to earn a degree in early childhood education. She wants to teach at a preschool. Even though her husband lives in the Santa Barbara area, Ratzesberger said she came to Stanislaus State for its quality program.
Because dorm fees include rent, utilities and food, they can cost less than renting an apartment off campus. Costs range from about $6,000 to $10,000 per academic year. About 660 of the university's students live on campus; about a third of those are freshmen.
The University of California at Merced also houses a handful of older students.
Older students sign up for dorms because of the convenience, said Jean Grech Condé, director of housing and residential life at Stanislaus State. On-campus living also offers opportunities for residents to interact and meet different people through games, competitions and socials.
Affordability, convenience cited
Before this semester, Barrentine was living in her sister and brother-in-law's house in Modesto. She chose to stay in the dorms for the convenience and to avoid a commute.
"As much as I love my sister and brother, that's their house. This is mine," Barrentine said.
Because Stanislaus State is a smaller campus and doesn't have separate housing for graduate students or students with families, older students live with the general population.
"They get a furnished place to live and it's an apartment setting, so that meets their needs," Condé said.
Barrentine said she originally pursued a nursing career because it was her mother's dream. While taking classes at Modesto Junior College, she realized how much she loved history.
"It's interesting for me to learn about what people did, said and wrote about," said Barrentine, who follows the idea that people are doomed to repeat history's mistakes if they don't learn from the past.
She decided on Stanislaus State because it is local and affordable. A self-described retread, Barrentine hopes people gain from her journey.
"By being here, somewhere down the road if (my younger roommates) meet someone who wants to go back to college, they can say, 'I had a roommate who did that,'" she said.