Writer’s Guidelines

Got a story idea or a nontraditional student essay for StudentsOver30.com? Send a pitch to the editor. What is a pitch? A pitch is simply stating that you have an article/essay idea that is relevant for nontraditional students who mostly live in the United States. If the story fits the Web magazine, the editor will give you the okay. Here’s a tip: do a quick search of our site to see if the topic has been covered before. If it has, it is highly unlikely that we will cover the exact same story again. However, if the story has a different angle, we may be interested.

The goal of StudentsOver30.com is to demystify the concerns of potential nontraditional students who might be thinking about going back to college or who are already in college.

• Average article length is 400 to 800 words.

• Ask-a-Professor column answers are approx. 200 words (for professors/teachers to write only). Professors/Instructors have two weeks to answer a question.

• Article tone: Conversational-style writing with accessible language is encouraged.

• News’ articles are mostly written in the third person; personal essays are written in first person; and how-to articles can be written in first, second or third person.

• Unless a writer is speaking from personal experiences (i.e. for the “student stories” section), all references must be cited and quotes must be attributed to its source.

• Student Stories: Nontraditional students can submit personal essays about their experiences of going back to college. We encourage students to submit photos with the essay.

• Editorial Articles: The subject matter must be relevant to mature age students, but the article must not be simply a rant. Present the “problem” then provide why you think it will or will not work. Your argument must be supported with facts.

• The “Editor’s Bin” is a mixed bag of things, from musings, essays, and thoughts about recent education news and the current state of affairs with higher education as it pertains to nontraditional students.

The pay for submitting articles to StudentsOver30.com is $15 for unique, usage rights. We pay via Paypal or company check via a U.S. bank (the default payment method is Paypal unless you state that you would like a company check mailed to you within the United States).

Please submit an invoice along with the article (.doc, .pdf or you may fax it to us from within the U.S.). For tax purposes, we have to account for the money paid to you. Furthermore, if you don’t provide an invoice, there will be a delay in payment.

Writers are encouraged to provide a short (approx. 50 words) bio at the end of each article with their Web site information, services they offer, or contact information.

We ask that the article be original and not published elsewhere. You retain the copyright to the article as we ask for unique, usage rights.