Non Traditional Students

The term “non-traditional” has been coined to describe and categorize students from non-traditional backgrounds. Non-traditional student diversity may include “age, color, ethnicity, gender, national origin, physical, mental and emotional ability, race, religion, language, sexual orientation and socio-economic status” (Taylor and House 46). From the age perspective, non-traditional students exceed the normal age range of college students. The normal age range for students attending higher education institutions is 18-24 years of age. “The rise of non-traditional-age students – that is, students who are either coming to college or retuning to it” has been increasing for the past several decades (Lang 188).

In recent years, United States universities have experienced a large influx of enrollees over the age of 25, a group referred to as non-traditional students. After America’s relatively recent economic troubles, nearly all citizens feel as though higher learning is an important tool for financial success. Many non-traditional students include first-time students, and more than half of the student body over the age of 25 consists of stay at home mom attending online classes.

Australian higher education establishments aim to enhance the learning experiences of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The goal is to increase access to and participation of all groups in the community.

With today’s changing world and the economy the way it is, it is not uncommon for people of all ages to enter the college setting. In fact, two-thirds of students entering the college setting are classified non-traditional (Brown, 2007). Bill (2003) found that there was an 11% increase of non-traditional student enrollment from 1991-1998 displaying 35% in 91 and 46% in 1998. These numbers have since increased according to Jacobson & Harris (2008) showing that half to 75% of undergraduates consist of the non-traditional student sitting the reasons for reentering the college setting to be economic. What exactly defines a non-traditional student and what services may they need in comparison to the traditional student.

Recent studies indicate an increase in the numbers of nontraditional students returning to colleges; the enrollment of students ages 25 and older rose by 13 percent between 1997 and 2007. NCES (2009) reported that from 2006 to 2017, there will be a continual increase in enrollment to nearly 20 percent for this age group (Bonner et al., 2015; Kenner & Weinerman, 2011; Ross-Gordon, 2011). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) there are 162.3 million people in the United States and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning claims that 38 million working adults 25 and older have taken some college courses but have not completed a degree (Bergman et al., 2014). Today, more

Many community colleges do not invest time and resources in providing students with athletic programs, campus facilities, student organizations, and other social activities that may contribute to the typical “college experience”. This may also contribute to the fact that four-year colleges have a majority of traditional aged students ranging from age 18-25, while community colleges serve individuals of all backgrounds and ages. For instance, many university campuses may hold concerts of popular music artists that appeal to their students. Similarly, the universities have a larger amount of time and resources to invest in helping their students feel like a family and at home while living on or near campus. On the other hand, most community colleges focus solely on putting their funding into the education mainly because most students commute from home.

A non-traditional student is defined as a student that has one or more of the following qualities: delayed enrollment after high school, full-time employment, part-time college attendance, financial independence, and/or does not have a high school diploma (Cox 7). The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) estimated in a 1999 report that almost 75 percent of all undergraduates possessed one or more nontraditional characteristics. However, according to the 2012 studies of research studies in higher education, just 17 percent of college students are considered traditional (Harpe and Kaniuka 250). With the overwhelming amount of non-traditional undergraduates in America comes three major challenges: institutional, situational, and dispositional.

The traditional adult attending a college or university is attempting to get their foot in the door of life. While the non-traditional adult, someone who is already in the workforce, is attending college for a different reason: either to change a career, improve a job skills, or for the joy of learning. The wise employers are sending employees back to school in order to make the business successful. Universities and colleges are adapting their programs to the needs of these non-traditional adults. As the non-traditional adults flood the colleges and universities, corporations and educational institutes are collaborating to establish the most optimum way to support the needs of the students while providing the best trained and educated workers in the industry.

Since community colleges serve as a route prior entering prestigious universities, the class sizes are five times smaller and students become accustomed to individualized attention. Students become friends with the same people they see on a daily basis and very few times form new relationships due to the twenty students per class. From small classes and a small community comes lenient work load assigned by professors which would be a day’s work at a university. Associates degrees are not as intense as the bachelor’s and master’s students at universities are pursing. Bigger class settings, less attention, and excessive work load are key contributors in making young adults ready for the career field of their

According to Lundberg (2003), “adult students are one of the most rapidly growing segments of today’s college student population, making up approximately 40% of all college students” (665).

Did you know that 40% of the United States population is made up of first-generation students? (Earl, 1987).

college students aged 16 to 24 who also work full- or part-time has increased from 49

Students would have a higher success rate if they could focus on their studies opposed to focusing how they are going to pay for them. Students who have to work and go to post-secondary education are less focused on their education compared to those who do not have to work. On average, a student should get between eight and nine hours of sleep which is not possible most of the time. If students have to go to school for approximately five hours per day, do one to four hours of homework, and sleep eight-nine hours that all equals to 14-18 hours of their day. How is a student possibly able to work six to eight hours on top of that? Some will say “Work and school combined makes for a more responsible student due to the extra tasks which forces them to use time management appropriately.” Technically yes, however the human body is not built to deal with so many tasks at once. Work can consume up to 40 hours of additional time that a student could use for either extra assignment time or even extra sleep.

However, the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement showed that working while in school was positively connected with student engagement. In addition, a 2009 Beginning Postsecondary Students longitudinal study showed that students who worked 1-12 hours a week had higher Bachelor’s degree attainment rates than students who did not work. They do well or even better academically than those who don’t. Working only 12 hours a week shouldn’t affect academic grades or performance.

Many publications claim students who work for pay for a certain number of hours while attending university perform better than other students who either do not work at all, or work more than the threshold number of hours, various estimates of which are discussed in this review. Once differences between and within various student demographics are considered, however, such generalization begins to lose validity, once research sorts for differences between and within classes of students, definitions of performance, and various types and levels of employment. Significant differences confound generalizing from existing samples to the total population, government and peer-reviewed academic research reveals. Likewise, past student work-study