New ATD Initiative Helps Usher Adult Learners into College – and Keep Them There
There are currently 90 million adults in the U.S. who are at a disadvantage in the workforce due to the lack of a postsecondary credential, unable to reap the social and economic benefits that come with a degree or certificate from an institution of higher education. What’s more, approximately 45% of that population actually started down their higher education path but, for a myriad of reasons, stopped out of their program prior to completion.
Most often, the reasons behind those stop-outs are rooted in the fact that colleges were designed for the “traditional” student, aged 18–22 and attending full time — not for adults with busy lives who struggle to balance competing priorities, such as work and childrearing, with their schooling.
Fortunately, many colleges — particularly community colleges, which serve 70–80% of enrolled adult learners — are increasingly taking a more proactive approach to easing the pathway to higher education for mature students, focusing attention and resources on how to make college feasible for them and how to best support them in accomplishing their academic and career goals.
