Non Traditional College Students

The college population is different now than it was a decade ago. The demographics are changing in universities around the U.S with more diversity in the students that enroll. (Choy, 2002) Today’s college students are divided into two groups, the traditional and the nontraditional undergraduate students. In the years between 1999-2000, there were 27% of traditional undergraduate students and 73% of nontraditional undergraduate students. There has been an increase of adult (25-35 years old) nontraditional students returning to college and less of the traditional young (18-23 years old) students. Traditional undergraduates are those students who attend college as soon as they finish high school. (Choy, 2002) Traditional undergraduate students

Nontraditional undergraduate students have full-time jobs and may be enrolled part-time in a college or in a two-year institution. (Choy, 2002) These students are financially independent. Nontraditional undergraduate students do not have the same luxuries as traditional students. They cannot dedicate a great amount of time nor can they give full concentration to their studies. (Choy, 2002) Many of these students are single parents, are married, have families, and work responsibilities that take up most of their time. They are family heads, parents, husbands/wives, employees, etc. before they are students. Many of these students work hard and obtain a degree at a slow pace. However, many nontraditional undergraduate students will stop their studies and not continue because of the many other obligations they have outside the classroom. (Choy,

(Miller, 2013) Students expect to receive good grades for minimal effort. These students often believe that they may be rewarded unfairly and may be dissatisfied with the outcome of their classes final grade. (Miller, 2013) These students do not focus on the quality of the work performed. Students associate the outcome of their grades to the effort that they have inputted to determine if they have been rewarded fairly. (Miller, 2013) This generation is often called the “ME” generation. (Choy, 2002) A generation of youth that believes that they should be rewarded highly regardless of the effort or amount of work they have contributed. (Choy, 2002) These students often feel cheated or treated unfairly by their teachers. (Miller, 2013) Students tend to have an egocentric nature which is characterized by a general indifference towards authority and traditional faculty relationship boundaries. (Choy, 2002) These students exhibit a combination of entitled attitudes and outlooks. They tend to have an entitled orientation towards their work and others (teachers and classmates). (Choy,