Convergence of Adult Learners, STEM Programs, and Promise Programs in Community Colleges

Introduction

American higher education is currently experiencing a convergence of three trends: a rise in adult learners as the largest population of students on college campuses, an increased focus on academic STEM degree programs and credentials, and the proliferation of promise programs that provide financial assistance to students. While limited research has examined these trends individually, there are no known efforts to date that consider the convergent effect that these three trends have on the higher education landscape as a whole. Each of these trends have been noted across all types of postsecondary institutions, two- and four-year, private and public alike. Community colleges in the United States are a setting where all three phenomena are more likely to converge, thrive, and present both challenges and opportunities. Community colleges in the U.S., which are characterized as open-access institutions, are situated and grounded in the mission of serving local taxing districts by providing opportunity to all students interested in pursuing an affordable education at the postsecondary level (Dougherty & Townsend, 2006). Therefore, an investigation of the current and unique higher education landscape related to the convergence of these three trends is critical. Community colleges, in particular, can benefit from understanding the three trends, (adult learners as the largest student group, academic increased demand for citizens possessing a STEM degree or credential, and the proliferation of promise programs), as they look to advance efforts in order to meet their institutional missions which are anchored in access and opportunity for all students.

While this chapter will focus on all three of the aforementioned trends, adult learners enrolled in community colleges will be the common student population as we look at the other two trends: an increased focus on academic STEM degree programs and credentials and the proliferation of promise programs that provide financial assistance to students. This focus is due to the fact that U.S. community colleges tend to be the most accessible entry point into higher education for adult learners. Many technical reports and white papers have focused on the increased enrollment of adult learners in American higher education. For example, the Lumina Foundation issued a report in 2007 entitled, Returning to Learning: Adults’ Success in College is Key to America’s Future, in which they laid out the importance of understanding adult learners and their needs in higher education. The report acknowledged the large number of U.S. citizens (54 million) who lack a college degree and another 34 million with no college credits earned at all (Lumina, 2007). The rise of adult learners is particularly notable as another report issued by the Lumina Foundation (2019) found that 37% of students enrolled in college were 25 years of age or older, and the vast majority of those attending college possessed one or more adult learner characteristic (e.g. independent status for financial aid purposes, fulltime employment, having dependents or actively parenting, etc.). These reports and others have provided unwavering evidence that individuals who are classified as adult learners may now make up the majority of college going students in higher education in the United States.

The convergence of adult learners at community colleges has been documented in other studies. Davis and Bauman (2011) underscored that postsecondary students with one or more adult learner characteristics attend community colleges at higher rates than those who attend four-year institutions. Community colleges have been the United States postsecondary educational institution that students have gravitated to over the past several decades and arguably community colleges have been designed to meet adult learners needs. However, does not indicated that the entire American higher education system has been designed with the adult learner in mind. Sissel, Hansman and Kasworm (2001) underscored how the higher education system in the United States, as a whole, has been designed to neglect the adult learner. In their 2001 article, The Politics of Neglect: Adult Learners in Higher Education, they offer this observation regarding the status of adult learners in higher education: