Effective Practices that Support Adult Learners

​Housed within the Office of Adult Students and Evening Services (OASES), the 49er Finish Program recruits former UNC Charlotte students t​​o return to school and then supports them as they complete their academic goals. A central component of the program is personalized academic advising throughout. The advisors within the program are trained to assist adult and nontraditional students, and they work with each student to develop and implement individual plans for achieving their goals.

​ University of Louisville enables students to obtain both a bachelor’s and master’s degree with shortened timelines and reduced costs. Among its 10 accelerated degree options are history, Spanish, public health, and political science. Notably, its women’s, gender, and sexuality studies program and criminal justice program are both accelerated and offered online. While the bachelor’s degree components entail 120–121 credit hours, students may apply a portion of these earnings to their eventual master’s program for a shortened time to degree.

While not exclusively offered to adult learners, Robert Morris University offers several bachelor’s degrees through three-year programs of study. Majors include criminal justice, economics, history, political science, psychology, social science, sociology, and nursing.

Albertus Magnus University’s flex program offers six-week and eight-week delivery formats, as well as options for online or in-person classes, depending on the student’s preference. The program also has an average faculty-to-student ratio of 1:14, advising, and career services.  Seventeen degrees (including some master’s degree programs) are available in the flex format.

​In 2019, Calumet College received $100,000 in grant funding that was redistributed to incoming, full-time freshmen and transfer students over the age of 55. The award amount and number of awards allocated varied based on the number of applicants and their levels of financial need, but did not exceed $5,000 per student.

Alamo Colleges District created a guided pathways model with two major components. First, AlamoADVISE connects students with academic advisors and includes benchmarks for key decisions like when to pick a major, thus ensuring all students receive consistent information that supports completion. The college also has AlamoINSTITUTES, which includes six career pathways that provide a plan to complete a program in the Alamo Colleges District or transfer to another college or university. The pathways are mapped to a central system that can be accessed by a student at any time online, avoiding the need to take typical working hours to meet with an advisor.

South Seattle College offers multiple apprenticeship programs in the construction trades as well as manufacturing that can lead toward an associate degree. Apprenticeship is an “employer-driven ‘earn and learn’ model that combines on-the-job training and related classroom instruction.” This model enables students to apply learned skills to real work experience, which is particularly beneficial to adult learners who often have to work during their studies. In addition, by completing only a few classes outside of their apprenticeship training, apprentices can receive an AAS-T degree in multi-occupational trades. The curriculum is developed in collaboration with industry stakeholders, so students’ training is tailored to industry skill demands.

The Block Schedule Program at Dallas College allows a full-time student to enroll in a defined block of courses, creating scheduling predictability from semester to semester. In advance of each semester, the college publishes the available curricula for each associate degree or certificate program and allows students to sort by blocks so students know which blocks are available. Students may enroll in the entire block curriculum for that semester rather than taking individual courses leading toward the degree or certificate.

In the 2019–20 academic year, student parents attending an institution within the California Community Colleges system, California State University, or the University of California became eligible for an access award of up to $6,000. This award is in addition to the base Cal Grant award amount, which varies by Cal Grant type and each student’s financial need, income, and asset ceiling. As a requirement for award receipt, students must have at least one dependent child under 18 years of age for whom they provide more than half of their financial support for during the academic year.

Milwaukee Area Technical College defines career planning as a process of exploration. In a five-step process, students meet with a career coach, hear about the college’s services, take career assessments, research prospective occupations, learn about the college’s seven different academic pathways, and then reconnect with staff to reflect on their options in their academic pathway. Students are placed on a road to degree completion while they are also encouraged to consider the many academic opportunities offered. In addition, adult learners can communicate their interests, relevant experiences, and concerns to a staff member who can help them best utilize campus resources.

​ Milwaukee Area Technical College defines career planning as a process of exploration. In a five-step process, students meet with a career coach, hear about the college’s services, take career assessments, research prospective occupations, learn about the college’s seven different academic pathways, and then reconnect with staff to reflect on their options in their academic pathway. Students are placed on a road to degree completion while they are also encouraged to consider the many academic opportunities offered. In addition, adult learners can communicate their interests, relevant experiences, and concerns to a staff member who can help them best utilize campus resources.

The Career Readiness Soft Skills Pre-Apprenticeship Program prepares students for employment, apprenticeship programs, and advanced education opportunities by teaching critical thinking, problem solving, interpersonal and life skills, budgeting, and basic math skills. Students also receive individualized career counseling and support with resume development, job searching, and interview preparation. Those who complete the program receive a certificate of completion and are enrolled to take the ACT National Career Readiness Certification examination.

The Center for Career and Re-Entry Services is a designated space on campus where adult learners can access career and educational counseling services, as well as relevant campus activities. The center’s Career Exploration Program has students meet with a counselor to complete career exploration research and an accompanying educational plan. Additional services include career assessments, resume and cover letter development, and job portal access. The center’s services are also available online, adding to its convenience for adult students.

The Center for Distributed Learning upholds a mission to support and develop the future of accessible education. As the central agent for online learning at UCF, the center makes a high-quality education available to “anyone, anywhere, anytime through the innovative use of technology.” The center acknowledges the time commitments of adult learners and ensures the quality of online course offerings for those who need alternative modes of instruction.

​ Western Governors University’s competency-based education offerings enable students to advance through course material by demonstrating mastery of concepts, rather than focusing on course hours or traditional pacing. Twenty-four-hour access to online learning resources and one-on-one support from faculty facilitate students’ ability to make degree progress at the time and place of their choosing. Coursework also encourages participants to leverage prior informal learning experiences.

University of Maryland Global Campus considers credit for prior learning as a way for students to save time, save money, and recognize and value the many ways they’ve acquired knowledge. It awards CPL through two programs: Course Challenge and Portfolio. With Course Challenge, the student must pass the equivalent of a final exam to earn credit, which can substitute for almost any undergraduate course for which the university can prepare and administer a suitable examination or assessment. Portfolio guides students in documenting their previous experience through two courses.

California Community Colleges recognizes that helping students save time and money toward high-value postsecondary credentials is a win for its colleges, students, and the state. Granting students credit for college-level skills and knowledge attained outside a college classroom is an evidence-based strategy to achieve those goals. The system’s Chancellor’s Office amended state policy to prompt all colleges to adopt student-centered, equity-focused credit for prior learning policies and processes. The system’s professional development platform, the Vision Resource Center, houses a Credit for Prior Learning Implementation Toolkit in addition to many resources developed as a result of this initiative, and stakeholders use this space to connect and share practices. The initiative’s pilot college, Palomar College, also created resources and continues to be a peer leader to scale practices statewide.

​​​​Cuyamaca College has seen tremendous success with their co-requisite math program. Students enroll in two unit co-requisite courses attached to statistics, pre-calculus, or business calculus. With this format, Cuyamaca saw an increase in math completion rates for all students from 15 percent in its traditional two-year math requirement to 69 percent for co-requisite math courses. When outcomes are disaggregated by race and ethnicity, one-year completion of transfer-level math for disproportionally impacted students​ increased. For Black or African American students, their one-year completion was seven times the state average—55 percent, compared with 8 percent. For Latinx students, their one-year completion also increased six times the state average—65 percent, compared with 11 percent. Cuyamaca College was the first college to fully transform remedial math course completion in California and has been highlighted by the California Accelerated Project​ for the co-requisite model’s efforts to close equity gaps.​

Flexible Option is a self-paced program that gives adult learners control over course length, start date, and end date. This competency-based model focuses on assessment rather than lecture hours. Each course features faculty-led curation of materials, assessments, rubrics, and sequencing, and is complemented by an academic-success coach. Students with relevant prior learning experiences are encouraged to apply their existing knowledge to coursework and assessments.

San Jacinto College’s Pathway Initiative organized over 100 degree and certificate programs into eight guided pathways called Academies. The initiative also built academic advising, cohort class models, and a clear map for career and/or transfer for continued education into each Academy. As part of the mapping process for associate degrees, staff and faculty from each Academy documented jobs in the college’s service area, verified demand for certificates and degrees, and recorded wage information—eliminating career and technical programs that did not lead to family-supporting wages. For transfer-oriented programs, faculty and staff created maps leading to the five most common transfer destinations, moving students away from general studies degrees that often have credits that do not transfer.

Minnesota Reconnect is designed for adults who have previously completed a minimum of 15 college credits and are re-enrolling in postsecondary education. Students are eligible for $1,000 each semester (in addition to any federal and state grants), which can be used toward tuition and other expenses (e.g., books, childcare, transportation). The program provides students with custom plans, as well as navigators who help seek out available childcare, reliable transportation, food assistance, veteran services, and other resources for adult learners.

The Nontraditional Student Center at the University of Wyoming provides a space on campus for nontraditional students to receive support services (e.g., information about scholarships, computer access), complete their coursework, and build community with peers. The center classifies nontraditional students as those over the age of 25, working on a master’s or doctoral degree, married, a parent or otherwise responsible for dependents, a ward or dependent of the court, a U.S. Armed Forces Veteran, and/or a child of deceased parents. By providing a physical space on campus for nontraditional students, the center encourages adult learners are to network and develop a stronger sense of belonging through peer relationships.

The Ohio Values Veterans initiative built from a state executive order to ensure that service members and veterans receive credit for their experiences. Military Transfer Assurance Guides facilitate statewide guarantees and connect institutions to a variety of toolkits that include policies, enrollment services, awarding credit, training and general military and veterans services.

The co-requisite model at Roxbury Community College (RCC) closes equity gaps by allowing students to take both their developmental math course and their college-level math course simultaneously. The developmental course is not credit bearing, and therefore is cost-free, allowing students to maximize their financial aid toward degree-completion courses. The pilot program for this model ran from spring 2016 to spring 2018. Out of 221 students who enrolled in the pilot program, the majority of the students passed college math (64 percent). Once the program officially launched in summer 2018, similar results were found with 63 percent of the 251 students enrolled in the program passing college math. In 2019, RCC presented its outcomes at the League for Innovation in the Community College’s Innovations Conference.

CSU Global designed its online certificates, specializations, and degrees to work as building blocks for students, and these stackable credentials are also entirely online, which brings added convenience and flexibility for adult learners. With these programs, students can gain expertise in their current discipline or field while also working toward longer-term career goals. Students work with an enrollment counselor, advisor, and industry career coach to create an education plan that meets both their needs and those of their potential employer. Students start with a short-term certificate program specialization that can be stacked toward completing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field.

Across more than 1,500 campuses, Student Veterans of American (SVA) provides resources, network support, and advocacy for veterans in higher education. Outside of its advocacy and research efforts, SVA hosts an annual gathering for student veterans and chapter-specific activities that provide members with social supports and resources.

Tennessee Reconnect is a Promise program that specifically helps adults return to higher education in order to gain new skills, advance in the workplace, or fulfill lifelong dreams of completing a degree. The program covers tuition for four or more semesters at any of the state’s 13 community colleges, as well as select programs at some public and independent universities. As a last-dollar grant, it pays the remaining balance of tuition and mandatory fees after other state and federal financial aid have been applied.

In addition to providing financial aid, Tennessee Reconnect provides students with a Reconnect Navigator. This individual offers potential and current adult students institution-neutral college navigation, as well as assistance with wrap-around supports (e.g., affordable childcare, transportation). Navigators provide students with individualized academic plans, resources, and information based on their specific needs. The first year of the program (2018–19) saw a success rate of 61 percent, measured by program completion or continued enrollment in pursuit of another credential.

Veterans Education Success improves accountability for the GI Bill, alongside supporting career and education opportunities for military families. More specifically, veterans and military-connected students are given free assistance with their GI Bill, college and career counseling, and other support surrounding the GI Bill. Additionally, the program produces non-partisan research related to student veteran outcomes and policy advocacy, and it engages government officials and the media to support veterans’ civic engagement.

VITAL supports academic retention and success by helping veterans with their transition to college. VITAL provides mental health and supportive services, and the program connects students to VA and campus resources to ease their transition to campus. Collaborating colleges and universities can be found on VITAL’s website.

In 2013, Tidewater Community College became the first regionally accredited institution to offer a textbook-free degree—a Z-degree. The program was led by a group of faculty members who worked as liaisons between administrators, instructors, and librarians, helping educators find and use OER such as articles, YouTube videos, and websites—anything that resides in public domain or has been released under an intellectual property license that permits free use and re-purpose. These resources allowed instructors to create courses that did not have any additional costs to students, increasing the likelihood that they would be able to complete the course. Indeed, a 2016 study of Tidewater’s Z-degree program found that students who participated in OER sections were less likely to withdraw and more likely to get a C or better in both in-person and hybrid/online courses than students who did not enroll in OER sections.