Supporting Adult-Student Persistence in Community Colleges

A growing majority of today’s college-goers are adult students, and the economic and cultural trends driving this growth are here for the long term. In some respects this is good news: Adult undergraduate students tend to earn higher GPAs and have better aptitude and psychosocial scores than do traditional-aged students. Unfortunately, adult students are also less likely than traditional undergraduates to persist (i.e., re-enroll from semester to semester). Those who earn degrees take longer to do so and are more likely to take breaks along the way, which is expensive for both students and institutions.