Traditional college students have many challenges when beginning college life. However, non-traditional students have their own unique challenges when trying to weigh the demands of work, family, social life, and school. For all students, utilizing personal responsibility to achieve college success includes demonstrating good time management, accepting accountability, and setting attainable goals.
Personal responsibility is the foundation for success. There are several tools available that can assist the student. Time management skills are particularly important. Universities emphasize personal responsibility skills, such as goal setting and time management, by providing college skills survival-type courses and workshops (Miller, Lincoln, Goldberger, Kazis, & Rothkopf, 2009). I equate this with the GEN/200 course, Foundations for General Education and Professional Success. The course textbook, Becoming a Master Student, covers many topics pertinent to both traditional and non-traditional college students. One topic covered in the book is Time. People belong to many roles in their everyday lives. It is important to understand how much time each of those roles requires in order to plan successfully for each role. It is important for students to maintain a balance between social, family, and academic life (Hinckley & Alden, 2009). One technique would be to schedule time on the calendar for study, family, and social activities. According to Ellis (2011), it would be a good idea to plan ahead by a month or more to allow the student to analyze exactly how he spends his time and determine which roles take more time than others. After completing the analysis, the student will be able to determine which of his habits he should change to better accommodate the time constraints that exist for each role and bring balance back into his life. Stress management is very closely related to time