Support can help adult students returning to school. A study was conducted to reflect the impact of attending a weekend course on family and work loads (Kirby, Biever, Martinez, & Gomez (2004). Students with a higher level of support from family and their employers experienced accomplishment from the coursework. The knowledge they attained, such as time management, was useful in family life as well as their work life. The study also determined that schools should give some focus to the adult student returning to school and the different set of support they would require. More colleges now offer non traditional programs for older students (Gearon, 2008). The adult student brings a new level of experience to the classroom. These type of students
The questions of “Who has homework?” and “Is it done?” have changed quite dramatically in many households over the years. Many adult learners have enrolled in two-year community colleges in pursuit of undergraduate degrees. “Do ‘hard lives’ justify excessive absences, rewrite opportunities, late papers and/or plagiarized work?” After analyzing several different factors: the perceived differences of two-year and four-year students, the reasons some students choose a two-year college vs. a four-year college, and the expectations of the faculty members at these schools, the answer to this question is, “No.”
The idea of having to go to school every day for at least twelve years conjures a lot of different emotions – some may be excited about the idea of learning new things and exploring their minds, while others may be exasperated just by imagining the curriculum they must complete during this time span. The term “senioritis” is derived from the feeling of irritability during a student’s last year of high school; this can cause a nosedive in GPA, lack of effort in assignments, and leaves the student with little to no determination to finish the school year. With this said, as years pass through a student’s academic journey, their passion, if there ever was any to begin with, is likely to dwindle down by the time
Dewey Dell’s conflict Dewey Dell is the fourth child, and the only daughter, of Anse and Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying. “Dewey Dell monologues are characterized with unarticulated wishes, powerful but poorly misunderstood emotions, and weakness.” From the dialogue, Darl said to Dewel Dell that Addie is going to die and she will die before they get back from the lumber job. Based on the story As I Lay Dying, does Dewey Dell hates Darl or she doesn’t? If yes, what is the reason?
When a young adult decided to go to college they have a very big decision to make about what their future will hold and where their future will begin. Once the decision has been made and college has begun, new friends are made and the actions they do shape who they will become. Weekends come and go, but the decisions that are made are different for each and every individual that attends college. There are those who choose to stay on campus and spend the weekend doing things around school with new friends, others choose to go home for different reasons, such as being homesick and wanting to be with family or spending the time off of school for work to help pay for tuition, also there are the students who choose to go to other institutions to see new friends they have made or visit old ones from high school. What I am attempting to understand is with my target population, is not only what the group chooses to do with their weekend time, but also to try and understand why they choose to do what they do with that time.
This report looks at college from the prospective of adults who have not attended college but are considering obtaining a degree. The research results give several statistics related to adults wishing to continue their education and the main concerns that they face in doing so. They mentioned many of the factors that influence adults’ decisions to pursue a post-secondary education and how they will pursue that education. Facts presented in this report show that many people wish that they could further their education. This report will allow me to broaden my viewpoint by not only viewing college’s worth to students recently graduated from high school but also to older adults seeking to return to college.
I decided at that moment that I would return to school and graduate with my bachelor?s degree. I made a promise to myself that I would finish my education. If I complete my education, I would make my parents proud of me. Plus, I want to be the first person on either side of my family to attend graduate school. Adults return to college primarily because they desire a higher paying career or a professional job. This could be a registered nurse, an elementary school teacher, a policeman or an attorney. It could also be an accountant, a journalist, a librarian, an interior decorator or a beautician (Smith, 2001).
Returning to College as an Adult Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life.
Adult students' participation and persistence in educational activities ranging from adult literacy to doctoral programs is a complex phenomenon involving an array of factors. Adults are often affected by situational factors beyond their control—job, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, personal or family problems (Belzer 1998). Likewise, dispositional factors such as expectations, self-esteem, level of family support, and past educational experience, can be barriers to participation (Hubble 2000). Institutional factors such as red tape, program fees, scheduling, and procedures can either help or hinder participation (Quigley 1998). In fact, adult students who drop out are often actually "stopping out"—that is, interrupting their studies but planning to return (Frank and Gaye 1997)—or attending other institutions (Hoffman and Elias 1999).
I am conscious that returning to school, will accompany stress and anxiety. However I am also aware that my decision may encourage others to overcome the fear of returning to school. I can help my peers or leaving behind the “old way of thinking and behaving” (Bais and Hayes, 2011, p.5). The strategies that help me in this transition as describe Spencer and Adam were to find a mentor who can provide support when needed and accept help from family members when in doubt or overwhelmed.
Adult learner retention continues to hold the attention of adult educators in every type of program. Although the reasons students leave and the strategies for keeping them may differ from adult basic education (ABE) to higher education, the goal of retention is the same: to keep learners in programs until they achieve their goals (Tracy-Mumford et al. 1994). In any program, adults are largely voluntary participants, but the student role is just one of many roles and responsibilities competing for their time and attention. In fact, personal reasons such as family problems, lack of child care, and job demands are often cited as the cause of withdrawal. At the same time, adults usually have pragmatic, focused reasons for participating and will leave whenever they feel their goals have been met or if they feel the program will not satisfy their goals. Personal/job factors may seem to be beyond institutional control, whereas program satisfaction is something educators can improve. This Digest provides an updated look at research on retention in adult education and suggests effective practices for different settings.
This essay is a reflection on identifying, discussing and applying useful resources available to me as a returning adult student to help me perform and succeed in an online academic environment. There are three key areas of impact: stress, time management and wellness and throughout the essay I will reference two great articles on adult learning, my decision to join the gym and my results from the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory.5 By looking at stress, time management and wellness along with having candid feedback from my professor, helpful guidelines and support I will reflect on having resources on hand as an adult online student.
Going back to college after you have been out of school for quite a few years, had three children, been married, and divorced is a lot harder than I ever imagined. It takes hard work, dedication, and missing out on the little things previously taken for granted. I miss taking naps the most. I believe if you can tough it out through the worst days, you can finish school and provide a better life for your children and yourself. You need a lot of willpower and a large sense of humor.
We discuss work related issues and its impact on college success almost every day whether we notice or not this is a big issue. Some college students have to have jobs in order to eat to take care of themselves on a daily basis. It is not good to be in college and be absolutely broke, they say “you’re in college it’s alright if you don’t have money, I didn’t have any either” this statement is a complete NO! Money in today’s time is a necessity without it how can one prosper? Family issues tie into work related issues as well; we’ll tie the two in. Being a parent and going to class full time is already a hard task to take on, add a job on top of that. A parent is running late to class due to an accident at their child’s school this is a family issue that at the time is more important than class.
All or most of us have gone through it. The countless hours we spent filling out college applications, scholarship applications, visiting colleges, and taking the dreaded tests. Whether it was the PSAT, SAT, ACT, or other college entrance exams, it was a big hassle. After visiting such a great number of colleges, the advantages and disadvantages of the schools seemed to run together in my mind. The endless paper work and deadlines seemed as though they would never end. When I thought about college, it seemed like it was not real, like it was a figment of my imagination. I imagined what it would be like, wondering where I would go. The questions of "What did I want to major in?" and after I decided that, "What schools had my major?" circled around in my head. When filling out questionnaires for college searches I was asked about what size college I preferred, whether I wanted to be in a rural or suburban area. Did I really know how to answer these questions that would so greatly affect the next four years of my life?
The student veteran population can be described as an ethnically diverse group of men and women who have served time in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard. After service, many veterans seek new careers through the college classroom in the effort to transition into a new phase in their life. Most student veterans are between the ages of 24-40 and are entering the classroom with varying experiences from other student veterans, and are in a different phase of life versus traditional incoming freshman. For many student veterans, they may be the first in their family going to college and may already have a family of their own. As compared to traditional freshman, student