Success for Adult Students - American Association of State ...

1 Success for Adult Students Looking at the demographics of today's student body, nontraditional is the new traditional. How can public universities best serve today's older student population? by Stephen G. Pelletier N. ews stories just before Labor for financial aid purposes; has dependents Day always capture the back- other than a spouse; is a single parent;. to-college ritual of young or does not have a high school diploma. first-year Students moving in Those criteria fit a wide swath of today's a frenzy into dorms. There's something college Students . comfortable and familiar in those Within the nontraditional cohort, accounts. Trouble is, they're not a very of course, are a great number of Adult accurate depiction of college life today. Students a pool often defined as those 25. As everyone who helps lead a or older. According to Stamats, more than university knows, the stereotypical 47 percent of Students who are currently student is but a sliver of today's college- enrolled in colleges and universities in going population.

2 Data reported by the the United States are older than 25. Public consulting firm Stamats suggests that universities know this cohort well: In as few as 16 percent of college Students the fall of 2008, just over 1 million of the today fit the so-called traditional mold: Students enrolled at AASCU institutions 18- to 22-years-old, financially dependent were 25 or older. As Daniel J. Hurley, on parents, in college full time, living on AASCU's director of State relations and campus. policy analysis, says, AASCU institutions The National Center for Education recognize that nontraditional is the new Statistics defines nontraditional Students traditional.. as meeting one of seven characteristics: The very label of nontraditional . delayed enrollment into postsecondary suggests that business as usual might education; attends college part-time; not work in serving this large cohort of works full time; is financially independent current and potential Students .

3 Do nontraditional Students need nontraditional approaches from One problem for adults is the constant, educational institutions both in and out of the classroom? And if so, how well do four-year institutions fill the bill? A Varied Group If so-called traditional Students competing tension between life are somewhat alike, at least by virtue of age, Adult Students are anything but obligations and educational homogenous. They may be 25 or 75. They may work full-time or part-time, or be between jobs. They may have children obligations. Jamie Merisotis, Lumina Foundation for or other dependents. They may be striving Education for their first professional career foothold, retooling after a reduction in force, or perhaps even coming off active duty in the deserts of Afghanistan. As president of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), Susan C. Aldridge knows a thing or two about this cohort.

4 UMUC has staked its mission on a commitment to providing a classroom environment, particularly the conditions where Students can stay top-quality educational opportunities to during the day but also on a traditional focused, on task, and be able to complete Adult Students . Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday- their credential in a reasonable amount Aldridge offers this snapshot of Adult Thursday schedule. Their lives are just of time so that they can benefit from Students : Most of them are working, a too unpredictable for them to commit to actually having that credential, Merisotis lot of them working fulltime. That means those types of schedules. says. That's a challenge. But we think that they go to school part-time rather Another implicit barrier for Adult that's something that must get increasing than on a fulltime basis. Many of them Students is that, from billing to career attention.

5 Have children or others that they are counseling to tutoring, student support Demar e K. Michelau, director of supporting financially. They're coming offices traditionally require patrons to policy analysis at the Western Interstate back to school, so they are either career visit an office in person perhaps between Commission for Higher Education changers or career enhancers. Adult the hours of 9 to 5. To work within those (WICHE), directs the Lumina-funded Students might be pursuing their first constraints, though, an Adult student project Non-traditional No More: Policy degree, an advanced degree, or another might have to leave work early, drive a Solutions for Adult Learners, which has credential. long distance and perhaps scramble to identified strategies to help adults who Because they are older and working find a parking spot. have nearly enough credits for a degree to and tend to go to school part-time, One problem for adults is the complete their education.

6 Aldridge says, Adult Students tend constant, competing tension between life The WICHE project has found that to view the structure of education obligations and educational obligations, Adult Students who are pursuing higher differently than do traditional Students . says Jamie Merisotis, president of the education have general confusion about Adult Students have a difficult Lumina Foundation for Education. Life how to navigate the system, Michelau time with the traditional format and obligations often come first. The price says. As one finding, the project is structure length of semesters, parking that you pay for that is that it takes much publicizing a concierge model, or on the campus, getting to a traditional longer to get the credential. One thing single point of campus contact that campus with a traditional schedule from that we know very well is that the longer connects returning Adult Students with their place of work, Aldridge says.

7 If it takes, the less likely it is for people to services they need. Among many other their travel schedule sends them out of actually achieve that credential. recommendations, the project suggests town, they have a difficult time being in We have to find a way to create that universities extend student services Fall 2010 n Public Purpose 3. beyond regular business hours and While paying for college is a concern Another complicated but critical find creative ways to tailor services to for virtually all Students , regardless of age, concern for Adult Students is the transfer accommodate the varied needs of the this issue poses unique challenges for Adult of academic credit. Michelau says that diverse Adult student population. Students . Institutional policies may gear the Non-traditional No More project Echoing WICHE's findings, Aldridge financial aid to full-time Students , leaving has found that a pivotal marker for says that to the extent possible, support Adult Students who attend part-time or Adult student Success is a university's services for Adult Students should be intermittently out of the loop.

8 Institutions ability to process transfer credits from available online or through a 24/7 call with a serious commitment to serving other institutions. Aldridge says that center so that the Students are not at a Adult Students recognize that they may universities that take weeks or months disadvantage just because they happen to need to change their financial aid policies, to process transfer credits create be working. as have State agencies (see sidebar). impediments that can delay a student's In Context: Adult Students and Policy P. resident Obama wants the United States to lead in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, North Dakota and South the world with the highest proportion of college Dakota to help create a more navigable path to degree graduates by 2020. Meeting that goal will require that attainment for adults . The effort targets ready adults . more Adult Students complete their higher education.

9 Those who have nearly enough credits for a degree but who That reality rings true with Jamie Merisotis, president haven't yet completed that credential. of the Lumina Foundation for Education. He views Adult Nine AASCU member institutions are among the 35. Students in the context of Lumina's Big Goal, which is to colleges and universities involved in Project Win-Win, an increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality effort sponsored by the Institute for Higher Education degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. Policy, also with Lumina support. The goal of this project We could dramatically improve high school graduation is to find former Students who are no longer enrolled in rates and significantly increase participation rates [of so- college and who were never awarded a degree, but whose called traditional Students ] in college and simply not have records qualify them for associate degrees, and get those enough people to meet the goal, Merisotis says.

10 Achieving degrees awarded retroactively. the foundation's ambitions cannot happen without S. adults , he states. It's that simple. tate initiatives are also working to tear down Beyond reaching the numbers, though, barriers that Adult Students face. The Indiana Merisotis says that getting more adults Commission for Higher Education, for example, through the educational pipeline is important recently announced recommendations to redress the to society for economic, cultural and social reality that the State 's current financial aid system development to say nothing of economic provides limited support and flexibility for recovery in the short term and advancing working adults , who today comprise the majority Success for people who are unemployed and of all college Students in the State . Proposed underemployed. And while much recent discussion in changes would create a dedicated fund for Adult and part- Adult education has emphasized associate-level credentials, time Students , allow State aid to cover summer tuition, and Merisotis makes a point of saying that too little attention offer increased aid for Students who complete a two-year has been focused on the baccalaureate conversation in degree at a community college and successfully transfer to a the sense that many [available] jobs are high skill/high four-year college.