Abstract
In addition to their roles as a students, nontraditional adult learners also hold other life roles, such as employees and parents. These learners are less likely to identify as “student,” instead placing emphasis on their personal and social roles within their families, businesses, and community. This role dissonance can affect course satisfaction, a sense of belonging, and persistence, particularly in female learners. This chapter examines the educational consequences of simultaneously maintaining multiple life roles and how institutions can support these students in order to aid in their success. While these roles often increase stress in the nontraditional learner, they also serve to motivate them.
TopIntroduction
Nontraditional adult learners are students who have at least one of Horn and Carroll’s (1996) characteristics of a nontraditional student. These include being at least 25 years of age, financially independent, possessing a GED in place of a high school diploma, being a single parent, having dependents, attending school part time, working full time, and delaying college enrollment for at least one year (Choy, 2002; Horn & Carroll, 1996; Radford et al., 2015). Horn and Carroll (1996) then categorized learners as: traditional, meaning they had no nontraditional characteristics; minimally nontraditional, meaning they had one nontraditional characteristic; moderately nontraditional, meaning they had 2-3 nontraditional characteristics; or highly nontraditional, meaning they had four or more nontraditional characteristics.
Nontraditional adult learners are also likely to be low-income (Kamer & Ishitani, 2021; Sautter et al., 2012), first generation (Holt & Winter, 2018; Redford & Mulvaney Hoyer, 2017), veterans (Dean et al., 2020), and/or members of a racial or ethnic minority group (Babb et al., 2022; Chen, 2017). Not surprisingly, adult learners with multiple nontraditional characteristics, who are also a member of one or more of these groups of vulnerable students, will face more obstacles to educational success than a traditional or minimally nontraditional learner (Babb et al., 2022; Ellis, 2019; Pelletier, 2010; Trenz et al., 2015). However, while outsiders may view many of these characteristics as barriers to success, nontraditional learners, while recognizing they face time and financial constraints and academic under preparation, often use these ‘barriers’ as motivation to attain their degree (MacDonald, 2021).
Nontraditional learners’ jobs and families are typically their biggest barriers to attaining a college degree (Erisman & Steele, 2012). However, these adult learners often decide to pursue higher education, not in spite of these barriers, but because of them. Most nontraditional learners choose to enroll or re-enroll in college to better provide for their families, be role models for their children, advance in their current fields, or because of personal learning or achievement goals (Adock, 2017; Babineau & Packard, 2006; Bohl et al., 2017; Lovell, 2014). Research has suggested that nontraditional learners are also more intrinsically motivated than are traditional learners while in the classroom (Bye et al., 2007). Despite the challenges they face, and largely because of them, nontraditional learners also exhibit adaptive goal orientations and adaptive coping strategies, which allow them to be better organized and to persist at challenging tasks (Johnson & Nussbaum, 2012).
This chapter explores nontraditional learners’ perceptions of themselves based upon their diverse roles as students, parents, employees, and caregivers. Their motivations for pursuing a college degree are explored, as well as how to increase self-determination and motivation in order to foster persistence and goal attainment. Strategies for boosting relationships between the learner and their instructors and peers, despite their part-time enrollment, which means less time on campus, are discussed, as well as nontraditional learners’ expectations regarding their educational experiences.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Self-Efficacy: An individual’s belief in their ability to control their own motivation, behavior, and social environment in order to attain goals.
Sense of Self: An individual’s overall perception of themselves based upon personality traits, abilities, likes, and dislikes.
Delayed College Attendance: More than a year separates the attainment of a high school diploma or GED and college entry.
Part-Time Student: A student enrolled in less than 12 college credit hours during each long semester of an academic year.
Intrinsic Motivation: Completing a task or activity for its inherent satisfaction instead of because of external pressure or reward.
Financial Independence: Currently, the definition is students aged 24 and up are considered financially independent from their parents by the U.S. federal government.
First-Generation College Student: A student whose parents did not attend college.
Internal Locus of Control: Individuals with an internal locus of control believe that the outcome of their actions are due to their own abilities.
Persistence: In education, persistence is the continuation of effort and striving through adversity towards academic goals.
Moderately Nontraditional Student: A student with 2-3 nontraditional characteristics.
Andragogy: The method or practice of teaching, based on research or theory, used with adults.
Traditional Student: A student who graduates high school, begins college full-time within one year of graduation, does not work full time, is 18-24 years of age, and has no dependents.
Minimally Nontraditional Student: A student with 1 nontraditional characteristic.
Sense of Belonging: Feeling accepted, included, and encouraged by one’s peers and instructor in the classroom.
Self-Esteem: An overall positive or negative evaluation of yourself.
Extrinsic Motivation: Completing a task or activity for an outside reward or incentive, or to avoid punishment.
Nontraditional Student/Learner: The increasing and majority population of college students who have at least one of the following criteria: 25 or older; single parents; dependents; part-time students; a GED; delayed college attendance; financial independence; and full-time employment.
Highly Nontraditional Student: A student with 4 or more nontraditional characteristics.