University of Phoenix grads making best of tough economy

Mike Martin walked in the procession of University of Phoenix graduates Saturday morning at the Sears Centre, waving proudly to his wife, Jane, and 12-year-old daughter, Jessica.

The 52-year-old Berwyn man said he earned his associate degree in accounting, in part, to make his daughter "proud of her dad. To set a good example."

There was another reason, too. Marketability.

Martin decided to go back to school when he learned he'd be losing his job doing internal operations for a small suburban company.

The new degree, he believed, would help him stand out among his peers. But finding a job has been tough.

"It's really difficult out there," he said. "In accounting, they want experience, or they want you to work at an internship for free. I can't do that, I have a family to take care of."

Still, he joked, the new degree looks a lot better on the resume than "education in progress."

Martin was among the 800 associate, bachelor and master's degree candidates who attended the University of Phoenix campuses in Schaumburg, Warrenville, Chicago and Tinley Park.

About 5,000 family members and friends packed the Hoffman Estates arena, many snapping pictures, others carrying flowers.

Unlike conventional college campuses, where most students are in their 20s and they devote a majority of their time to school, the University of Phoenix, which serves 8,000 students across the state, has an average student age of 34.

Most take a combination of online classes and courses held at the campus sites.

Student speaker Jonothan Holmberg, of Waukegan, who earned a bachelor's in business management, took a number of online courses, and said he did much of his class work at home at night, with a glass of wine by his side. The working husband and father said the program fit in well with his family's schedule.

The ceremony's keynote speaker was longtime MLB executive and former White Sox general manager Roland Hemond, now working as a special assistant to the president and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hemond, who began his career in 1951, never attended college.

"How fortunate you are," he told the graduates. "I wish I could turn it back to 1951 and do what you've done."

Hemond also urged graduates to make a difference working for organizations that need help. "Don't fall for the negatives," he said. "You've overcome that already."

For student speaker Paul Contine, Hemond's words rang especially true. In the 15 months it took the Elk Grove Village resident him to earn a master's in business administration, Contine went through a divorce, had a heart attack and got laid off.

The teachers and friends at the University, he said, carried him through, checking up on him and helping him network.

"I've never been better," he said.