In a 2023 report by the National Student Clearinghouse, the "some college, no credential" population stood at 40.4 million in 2021, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier. Of this population, more than half (21 million, 52%) were 25 or older at the time of their last enrollment. One solution to this reality is to reengage this population and…

This fact sheet focuses on how adult students in Michigan are accessing, affording, and completing postsecondary credentials. Adult learners are adult individuals, often considered to be aged 25+, who return to education, often at the high school and undergraduate levels. [This fact sheet was prepared with the Michigan Center for Adult College…

This study investigated the individual experiences of adult undergraduate students, defined as those 25 years of age or older, to understand their perceptions of how they succeeded in completing their bachelor's degree programs. The sample of 15 participants was purposefully selected from a pool of Empire State College alumni who had graduated…

Objective: States increasingly create promise programs to increase college enrollment and degree attainment. The objective of this study was to understand the experiences of adult learners using the Tennessee Reconnect Grant (TN Reconnect) as they transitioned to becoming college students. Methods: Drawing upon interviews with 23 adult learners,…

Free college programs have been around for some time, but they have proliferated in recent years, prompted by rising college costs, mounting student debt, and the United States' urgent need for a more educated workforce. But while these free college, or "promise" programs have the potential to make a higher education more affordable and…

This study demonstrates adult women college students overcoming challenges due to mistreatment in order to succeed academically. Asking each participant to tell her life story allowed the researcher to find common narratives of mistreatment among them, while using critical feminist and constructivist theories for analysis. As a result, the…

Prior learning assessment (PLA) is the process of evaluating learning, regardless of when or where the learning occurred, and, if the learning is at the college level, awarding college credit to the possessor of that learning. This article provides an overview of the PLA program at a large public U.S. institution and presents the findings of the…

This study of community college student-parents used interpretive phenomenological analysis of interview data contributed by 15 participants from three Mountain West Community Colleges. The participants qualified by the following criteria: had delayed college entrance by 2 years or more, had a child not yet in kindergarten, were full-time students…

As applications for graduate and professional degree programs have reached unprecedented levels over the past decade, the applicant pool has become more diverse with more mid-career students deciding to return to school. Given the growth and diversification of the graduate applicant pool, many graduate programs are struggling to develop stronger…

This is a narrative case study that analyzes Carl's experience as a nontraditional student who enrolls in a transition course after a 15-year hiatus from college. Specifically, the study aims at understanding the perceived impact that the course had on shaping the personal narrative of learning in college of a reentry student. Using a…

Graduate nursing programs play a central role in graduate higher education in the 21st century (Walker et al., 2008). The growing nursing shortage in the United States has influenced many colleges and universities to seize the opportunity to educate the rising number of graduate students interested in pursuing a nursing career. As a result, the…

A ready adult (or reentry) concierge is a single-point of contact at a college or university who helps returning adult students navigate the application, enrollment, and registration processes and overcome barriers to college success. To better understand the barriers faced by students in the reenrollment process and how the Concierge Model can…

Nearly all states are grappling with the question of how to boost college attainment to meet workforce needs with the resources available. For many states, that task is complicated by the fact that the young adult population is projected neither to grow nor decline over the next several years. There is a significant opportunity, however, for…

With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) is engaged in a two year project centered on state policies that foster student progression and success in the "adult re-entry pipeline." The adult re-entry pipeline consists of the many alternative pathways to…

This article explores the higher education learning experience of Kat, a mature female student. As part of a longitudinal case study spanning two years, data were collected through interviews and journal entries. The data were used to construct an account of Kat's higher education experience, focusing particularly upon her self-theory in relation…