Whether you are working a full-time job or are a full-time parent, being a student is still an option.

The Office of Professional and Continuing Studies works to accommodate non-traditional students. It was created in 2009 after the discontinuation of City College in 2006 because of the strategic plan “Pathways.”

City College was established in 1919 and had a long history of providing services for evening students, according to Angie Hoffer, former director of Student Services and Admissions and current associate dean of the College of Business.

With only two full-time personnel and one part-time staff member, the Office of Professional & Continuing Studies is working hard to meet the distinct needs of adult learners, said Melissa Lightell, interim director of Professional and Continuing Studies.

“The office provides all of the services that were available to City College students: scholarships specifically for evening students, academic advising, extended office hours, parking decal distribution, ID validation, New Student Orientation, receptions and special events,” Lightell said. “The office has become a one-stop shop.”

The Office of Professional and Continuing Studies is not the only program accommodating non-traditional students. According to Lightell, several offices and centers have extended hours, some professors create more classes to work with students’ nontraditional schedules and the New Student Orientation has representatives from University Police, Academic Resource Center, Financial Aid and other departments.

Criminal justice junior Joe Picone said he is grateful for the guidance Melissa Lightell and Teri Berthelot, academic counselor and program coordinator, have given him.

“I remember when (I) registered at Loyola, both of them were very patient and made the re-entry program very easy,” he said.

Picone, who works in St. Tammany’s Parish Sherriff’s Office, has been able to take all of his classes despite his busy schedule. He feels the Professional and Continuing Studies office has accommodated him well and helped him face problems he runs into at work.

Hoffer agreed with Picone that the Professional and Continuing Studies program accommodates students well after the discontinuance of City College.

“A dedicated group of the same people and more are dealing with the students in a different capacity,” Hoffer said.

The work of the Office of Professional and Continuing Studies and other supporting administrators is paying off. There are approximately 200 evening students currently enrolled at Loyola, and enrollment has remained steady for three years, according to Lightell.

Lightell said she believes Loyola’s evening students are an important and unique aspect of the university.

“Whether they are nurses working 12-hour shifts, police officers with rotating schedules, parents taking care of their children, or children taking care of their older parents, we believe that it’s our mission to show them how these roles enhance their educational experience,” Lightell said.

Jamie Futral can be reached at [email protected]