Motivations and Barriers for Adult Learner Achievement: Recommendations for Institutions of Higher Education

Recent trends in higher education indicate a steady increase in the number of adult and non-traditional learners returning to complete college degrees. Though higher education can provide numerous economic and career enhancement opportunities, adult learners experience several challenges when they return to college. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to gather and analyze data from employees from companies in the Midwest to determine the challenges and motivations of adult learners who plan to return to higher education. The results highlight that it is important for institutions of higher education to collaborate with employers to identify ways to modify their student recruitment methods to attract more adult student learners and identify supportive resources to help them complete their degrees successfully.

“Listen to the Feedback of Students”: First-Generation College Students Voice Inequalities in Schooling Brought on by the COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the higher-education community faced one of its largest disruptions to date with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing campuses to close their doors to thousands of students. The university-wide closures prompted a collaboration between researchers and college administrators to assess the impact of COVID-19 on First-Generation College Students (FGCS). The team surveyed 659 FGCS across five U.S. universities to assess the ways in which the pandemic exacerbated already existing inequalities students faced in their persistence to graduate from college. The team used the social cognitive career theory as a conceptual framework for analysis. Our findings revealed that when respondents compared their life before COVID-19 with their present state, FGCS were less likely to perceive they had enough money to return to college, felt overwhelmed and lonely by added stress, and were more likely to see an increase in family responsibilities.

“I’m Not Letting Nothing Stop Me This Time”: Transitions Among Adult Learners Using the Tennessee Reconnect Grant

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, this longitudinal qualitative study applied Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to explore the experience of transitioning to college. Results: Findings revealed students who used the TN Reconnect, many of whom were first-generation and low-income students, faced insurmountable barriers that contributed to their decision to initially not enroll in college or drop out of college. Access to TN Reconnect provided an unexpected opportunity for them to return to college. However, participants still faced barriers often associated with adult, first-generation, and low-income students. Contributions: Findings suggest state and institutional policy, and practice must adapt to fit the unique needs of adult learners to maximize degree completion outcomes. As currently structured, promise programs may not provide substantial benefits to student groups who face significant barriers to success, such as adult learners. State policymakers must explore the benefits of adopting a more equitable policy structure and/or implement additional services and resources for adult learners.

The COVID States Project #52: Public support for vaccine requirements

As more Americans are being vaccinated, politicians, institutional leaders, and individual members of the public are debating in what contexts vaccine requirements are appropriate and who should be allowed to set the rules. For example, an increasing number of colleges and universities are announcing that they will require that students be vaccinated before returning to campus in the fall. On the other hand, lawmakers in at least 40 states are seeking to prohibit universities, government agencies, or businesses from doing so.To explore this question, our April 2021 survey (N=21,733 respondents) included a series of questions asking respondents whether or not they approved of local, state, or federal governments mandating vaccines for everyone, and, more narrowly, whether they supported a vaccine requirement to board an airplane, attend (K-12) school in person, or return to college. In this report, we explore public support for such requirements in the aggregate and broken out by demographic subgroups of the population, as well as at the state level.

A survey of student perception and feedback during the COVID-19 lockdown

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ thought processes during this extended COVID-19 lockdown and to ascertain their views about online education, their main current apprehensions and worries, their stress levels, and their view of an eventual post-COVID-19 return to college. Methods: An online survey was conducted on 300 plus students of the PSG College of Pharmacy, India. The survey was split gender-wise and across senior-junior years. Results: Three out of the four groups showed an overall desire to return to college and resume normal operations with reasonable social distancing norms. All the student groups surveyed were extremely keen on resuming practical labs but showed mixed feelings towards resuming traditional examination methods. All the groups showed stress and uncertainty regarding the lockdown. Conclusion: A reasonable picture could be obtained from student feedback and thoughts pertaining to during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. These preliminary findings may help educators formulate appropriate policies to address students’ issues.

Investigating Why Academically Successful Community College Students Leave College Without a Degree

Even though a postsecondary degree can offer economic, social, and civic benefits, many community college students leave without earning a degree—including some who have performed well academically and made substantial progress toward graduation. To better understand the factors contributing to early exit, we surveyed a number of former students in a large community college system. We improve the generalizability of the survey responses through multilevel regression with poststratification, which we use to reweight the responses to better represent the population in our original survey frame. We find that tuition and fees, living expenses, and no longer being eligible for financial aid are the factors contributing to early exit for the largest share of students. We also find variation in both financial and nonfinancial factors across subgroups, suggesting that targeted supports may be useful in helping students persist or return to college and complete their degree.

Can Re-Enrollment Campaigns Help Dropouts Return to College? Evidence From Florida Community Colleges

In this study, we develop and implement a text messaging re-enrollment campaign to encourage former community college students to return to college. Former students are randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups that either receives information to simplify the re-enrollment process or receives both information and a one-course tuition waiver. We find that providing information and a one-course tuition waiver to former students increases their likelihood of re-enrollment by 1.5 percentage points (21.1%), enrolling in multiple courses by 0.9 percentage points (16.4%), full-time enrollment by 0.5 percentage points (21.7%), and persistence by 0.6 percentage points (23.1%). This study highlights the importance of targeted interventions that address informational and financial barriers facing former students.

Should I Attend College in the Fall? Questions for Students with Mental Health Conditions to Consider

This tip sheet has questions that are intended to help students with mental health conditions, their supporters, and loved ones make decisions about whether the student should return to college this fall. Colleges and universities have probably answered many of the basic questions for regarding physical safety, finances, schedules, etc. But this tip sheet has questions schools may not have addressed that may be helpful to think about when making college students are making the decisions about returning to school. These questions may lead them to contacting your school for more information.

Return to College After a First Episode of Psychosis

A first episode of psychosis (FEP) can derail a patient’s educational goals, including attainment of a college education, and this can have lasting ramifications for socioeconomic and health outcomes. Despite this, few studies have examined return to college, which is an important index of real-world educational success after a FEP. In this study, we conducted a longitudinal medical record review of patients in a transdiagnostic outpatient FEP program and performed survival analysis, setting return to college as the endpoint, among the subset of patients whose college education was interrupted. We found that 82% (93/114) of college-enrolled FEP individuals experienced disruptions to their education after FEP, but that return to college also occurred in a substantial proportion (49/88, 56%) among those on leave who had follow-up data. In this sample, the median time to college return was 18 months. When separated by baseline diagnostic category, FEP patients with affective psychotic disorders (FEAP, n = 45) showed faster time to college return than those with primary psychotic disorders (FEPP, n = 43) (median 12 vs 24 mo; P = .024, unadjusted). When adjusted for having no more than 1 psychiatric hospitalization at intake and absence of cannabis use in the 6 months prior to intake (which were also significant predictors), differences by diagnostic category were more significant (hazard ratio 2.66, 95% CI 1.43–4.94, P = .002). Participation in education is an important outcome for stakeholders, and students with FEP can be successful in accomplishing this goal.