Older Students Hitting the Books at U.S. Colleges : 40% of undergraduates are 25 or above. Schools are trying to solve group’s special problems.

Norman Tognazzini dropped out of college three times by his early 20s. “I was not serious at all. I think I was there just to have some fun and do some partying,” he recalled.

A decade later, age 33 and more serious, he tried again, joining a growing national trend of resuming or starting a college education in mid-life. By juggling jobs and family responsibilities, Tognazzini managed to receive a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Northern Arizona State University in 1986.

In the process, he learned a lot about special problems of older students like himself. As a result, Tognazzini earlier this year founded the National Assn. of Returning Students, a fledgling group based in Salem, Ore., that offers guidance on financial aid, study habits, social life, child care and the awkwardness of sometimes being older than professors.

Potential membership is huge. The American Council on Education reports that about 40% of all American undergraduates are 25 years old or older, up from 33% in 1974. Career-switching of restless baby boomers, the return of women to the work force and national economic problems fuel the increase, experts say.

Many campuses welcome older (and usually part-time) students, particularly because the traditional pool of 18-year-olds has shrunk. But many schools remain geared toward young full-time students, educators concede.

“Too many institutions have paid lip service to older and part-time students but haven’t made the necessary accommodations,” said David Merkowitz, the education council’s public affairs director. More changes are needed, he said, in scheduling classes and office hours on nights and weekends and in offering counseling and scholarships.

Robert Zemsky, director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania, calls for more dramatic reforms, such as replacing semester schedules with a system allowing older students to proceed at their own pace while taking numerous tests.

Tognazzini, who now teaches at a business college in Oregon and is publishing a guidebook for older students, said he had “a lot of problems, verging on mental problems, finding a niche” when he returned to college in his 30s. Some professors enjoy the seriousness of older students but others prefer less challenging youngsters, he said. Some younger students are hostile to having a parental figure in their ranks.

To be sure, many schools have changed. For example, Indiana University offers many night and weekend classes at off-campus work sites. However, dropout rates at the system’s commuter schools, where most older students enroll, are double that at the residential campus in Bloomington dominated by young students. “We’re quite concerned about that,” said Eileen Bender, assistant academic adviser to the university’s president.

About 31% of undergraduates in the California State University system last year were 25 or older, compared to about 27% a decade before. In response, Cal State Long Beach now has a guidance counselor for returning students and a day care center for their children. That counselor, Maxine McCurnin, said women rebounding from divorce or men facing job layoffs first fear the competition but then often do better than young students.

“That’s because they are here because they want to be here or because they are here out of economic necessity to be more marketable,” McCurnin said. “Either way, it’s motivating.”

Jeff Vendsel, a 34-year-old photojournalism student at San Francisco State agreed. He dropped out of a community college after high school because, he said, “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.” He then traveled around the country, working as a waiter, and did not return to school until two years ago.

“A lot of going to college at a younger age is getting away from home for the first time and learning about who you are. I’ve already taken care of that,” he explained. “My whole identity is not wrapped up with school. I want to get an education, get a degree and move on with my life.”

But money worries can discourage older students, said Carol Hollenshead, an expert on older students at the University of Michigan. “The largest single issue we see is juggling jobs and school or simply paying for school bills and supporting yourself and your family,” she said.