Strengthening Outcomes of Adult Students in Community Colleges

This chapter provides an overview of the development and mission of community colleges to present the challenges that adult students who attend community colleges often face, and to explore ways that community colleges can help students overcome these challenges. Challenges are often related to other obligations adult students face, financial pressures, geographic location, academic ability, and feelings of not belonging. Community colleges are uniquely situated to address these challenges through programs and practices from beginning orientation, through coursework, and onto graduation. Postsecondary education can lead to employment that can give students the resources they need to improve the lives of their families and communities.

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Exploring the Relationship Between Performance-Based Funding Design and Underrepresented Student Enrollment at Community Colleges

Community College Review ◽

10.1177/0091552119865611 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 382-405 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Robert Kelchen

Keyword(s):

Community Colleges ◽

Adult Students ◽

Postsecondary Education ◽

Low Income ◽

Student Enrollment ◽

Underrepresented Minority ◽

Higher Education Funding ◽

Performance Based Funding ◽

Education Data ◽

Design Characteristics

Objective: An increasing number of states are adopting performance-based funding (PBF) systems for their public colleges, but there are concerns that PBF dissuades colleges from recruiting and enrolling students with a lower likelihood of success. Some states have attempted to address this concern by providing additional funds for successfully serving low-income, underrepresented minority, or adult students, but the effectiveness of these particular provisions has yet to be examined among 2-year colleges. I explore whether these provisions have affected historically underrepresented student enrollments at community colleges. Method: I use generalized difference-in-difference panel regression techniques combined with data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and information from states on their performance funding policies from the 2004-2005 to 2014-2015 academic years to address the research questions. I classified colleges based on whether they had a PBF system with equity provisions, a PBF system without equity provisions, or no PBF in a given year and compared these three groups of institutions. Results: I find little evidence that PBF policies, regardless of their design characteristics, have a relationship with traditionally underrepresented student enrollment levels. Contributions: Although there are concerns that PBF systems induce community colleges to selectively recruit students with a higher probability of success, I find no systemic evidence of that practice. However, as PBF systems become higher stakes and more ingrained in state higher education funding, this finding deserves further study.

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Best practices for recruiting, retaining diverse adult students at community colleges

Dean and Provost ◽

10.1002/dap.30925 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 8-8

Author(s):

Halley Sutton

Keyword(s):

Community Colleges ◽

Best Practices ◽

Adult Students

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Strengthening Outcomes of Adult Students in Community Colleges

Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-43030-6_3-2 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-57

Author(s):

Peter Riley Bahr ◽

Claire A. Boeck ◽

Phyllis A. Cummins

Keyword(s):

Community Colleges ◽

Adult Students

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Integrating Adult Learning and Technology for Effective Education

Integrating Adult Learning and Technologies for Effective Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-61520-694-0.ch011 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 189-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Royce Ann Collins ◽

James B. Martin

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Community Colleges ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Adult Students ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Public Universities ◽

Traditional Classrooms ◽

Liberal Arts Institutions ◽

For Profit ◽

Education Needs

This chapter is an examination of the influences involved in the integrating of adults into higher education. The chapter begins with an exploration of the increase in the number of adults in higher education since 1969. Comparing the changes in demographics from 1969 to 2007 shows how little large public universities have done to integrate adults into higher education. This examination shows significant participation by three types of institutions; community colleges, small private four year liberal arts institutions, and for-profit institutions created to meet the higher education needs of adults. The chapter defines adult and higher education and discusses how they differ or interact. A discussion of how adult students learn and effective techniques to facilitate learning in adult classrooms follows these definitions. Finally, a discussion identifying how teaching techniques that are effective for adults can be integrated into traditional classrooms in higher education brings the chapter to a close.

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EXPERIENCES AND BARRIERS TO SUCCESS FOR MID- AND LATER-LIFE COLLEGE STUDENTS: APPLYING A GERONTOLOGICAL LENS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.2468 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S667-S667

Author(s):

Phyllis Cummins ◽

Annabelle Arbogast ◽

Kathryn McGrew ◽

Peter Bahr

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Community Colleges ◽

Adult Students ◽

Research Policy ◽

Life Stage ◽

Later Life ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Multiple Dimensions ◽

Key Population ◽

Single Category

Abstract Adult students have emerged as a key population of interest within higher education as states and institutions strategize to meet postsecondary attainment goals. However, much of the previous research on non-traditional age college students has collapsed all students age 25 and older into a single category, glossing over important age and life stage differences. Using a gerontological lens, this paper examines experiences and barriers encountered by mid-and later-life (MLL) students (age 40 and older) attending community colleges. We report qualitative findings from a mixed-methods study of MLL students in Ohio community colleges, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Based on thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups with students, faculty, staff, and administrators at 23 colleges, we identify multiple dimensions of age and aging that each play a meaningful role in shaping MLL students’ community college experiences and outcomes. Additionally, we provide an in-depth profile of MLL students—including their educational and work trajectories, reasons for enrolling, and experiences in community colleges—that can help colleges better recruit and serve this segment of the adult student population. MLL students face both unique and common barriers that colleges can address at the classroom, program, and institution levels. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

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