Students differ in shape, size, color, and age. From kindergarten to college, many students are expected to follow a linear educational path regardless of life obstacles and other hindrances. Unfortunately, judgmental and oppressive eyes often intercept any deviation from this path. Lailah Gifty Akita once said, “You are never old to begin self-seeking.” A college education immediately after high school is not the correct path for everyone, as adult students have taken a rise in the collegiate atmosphere. This increase has intrinsically changed career options locally and globally.
An adult learner is anyone in a college or university 25 years old or older. Often, adults decide to enroll in upper level education to develop their financial merit.
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Supporting the financial weight of children, work, living necessities, and school obligation can be a hard load to carry. The preparation for cumulative exams alone takes so much time. The addition of giving your children the love they need, the rest you need, and the ability to function properly at work can be physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing. Loss of sleep with the combination of training the mind in order to absorb the influx of information that’s going to happen during the upcoming lecture is tough. Going home fatigued and making dinner for your family and then hoping to recap the day and possibly studying and or doing some homework all before your body fails for the day. Then you find yourself waking up to an alarm clock indicating you have to go to work the next morning. In-home stressors add complexity to an already complex situation. Approval on campus and interactions with other students can often become negative. Judgment due to age is often looming in the air and often hinders the ability to learn, but don’t fret. There are positives to going back to …show more content…
Enhancing commerciality to acquire a better job position, teaching your children of the importance of education through example, and an increasing in personal satisfaction and enrichment are all outcomes of going back to school. An environmental fear of campus life is a real thing for adult learners. In 2013 there were 8.2 million adult students compared to the 12.2 million students under the age of 25. The rates of increase for adult students are expected to increase higher than students less than 25 years of age according to the national center for educational statistics. The demand for MBAs and the attendance of professional schools is increasing. A master’s degree is almost mandatory in order to obtain a 6-figure career. The support of family members helps whenever the overwhelming feeling of loneliness begins to creep in. My son telling me he’s proud of me nearly brought me to tears and so I encourage everyone thinking about going back to school to dive
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
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.
Over the past few years, people have begun to see going to college as a way to achieve the American Dream through career-readiness. People used to go to college, hoping to get a better well-rounded education. For most the well-rounded education, it usually came with the courses required for a liberal arts education. The courses would provide a level of analytical and in-depth understanding that would prepare the students for both life and whichever career path chosen. No matter the amount of money paid, parents would be willing to gi...
How to attract and retain adult students is an enduring question for providers of adult education. Adult students must juggle competing demands on their time from study, family, work, and other commitments; their learning goals are often different from those of educational institutions and providers; and their needs and aspirations may change during the education process, sometimes as a result of it. This Brief reviews recent research related to adult student recruitment and retention and provides guidelines for recruiting and retaining adult learners.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
In order to prevent academic inflation-- the declining value of higher degrees of education-- and to be able to provide an appropriate level of higher education, colleges must limit their enrollment to only those who are prepared and have the potential to be successful. However, it is hard for universities to predict which students will be successful in college based solely on how they performed in high school due to the environments being almost incomparable. There is so much more that factors into someone’s potential to succeed than simply their past achievements. A lot of what motivates us to succeed are the morals and values we are taught early in life by our parents, yet even these core values can change over time. Colleges and high schools also ask very different things from their students.
People have very different reasons on why going to college and getting an education is important for them. Some people go to college because that is what is expected of them, and others go because they have nothing else better to do. However, I am interested in going to college and obtaining a good education because it will benefit my family, my country, and me.
College. It is the seven-letter word that almost every child will hear thousands of times while they are growing up. They constantly are bombarded by the idea that they must go to college if they want to be successful. However, what if this is a false statement. What if college isn’t as great as everyone makes it out to seem. Well, these days some people believe that young people are better off, not going to college. Over the years the economy around the world has changed. It has prospered, and it has fallen. As the economy went downhill the government began cutting funds in areas that they felt were necessary to exterminate. One of the largest areas of funding that was cut was education. Colleges began receiving less money from the government, resulting in a rapid increase of college tuition fees. Due to this, a lot of people believe that college tuition is too expensive for what you get, and not worth the money. However, most people believe that college is necessary in order to further their education, and in order for them to earn their degree. They think that this degree has the ability to help college graduates get a job and work up to a career that only someone with a college level degree is able to achieve. The truth lies in the facts, and statistics. College is the seven-letter word that all people should be thinking about. A college education is a valuable investment that everyone should strive to achieve, and is completely worth the expensive cost.
After high school what is next? Many recently high school graduates decide about attending college. Although there are downsides such as student debt, stress and anxiety, failure ,overall, attaining a college degree is beneficial because it offers financial stability, helps out the community, more job opportunities, can also be a positive role model to others, and you can follow your dreams of becoming what you have always wanted. Attending college is beneficial for both , student and community. Earning a college degree helps in the community in various ways. For example, if going to college helps in earning more knowledge, it can also help outside of school wise. An example would be that a person with a college degree has the ability to have more employment anywhere you go. Today
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
Self-motivation, self-discipline, time management, and the ability to prioritize are all essential ingredients to graduate successfully. As a single working mother of two kids it is crucial for me to understand where my time is going. The concept of going back to college seemed a little far-stretched, but in today’s economy and job market, it is necessary. I am a mother who leads by example; therefore it is a top priority of mine to balance life and the time commitment to the program as this is a long term investment.
Attending college at different times in someone’s life has its positive and negative factors. Going off to college right after high school is the traditional student, with ages being from 18-years-old to about 22-years-old when graduating with a degree. While there are also students that are more non-traditional that are 23+ years-old that go back and attend college. While being a student at The University of Northwestern Ohio for the past two years I have been in contact with many traditional and non-traditional students. I have been able to hear many stories of why non-traditional students waited to come back and why traditional students are here now right out of high school. With being in contact with these students I have seen many similarities and differences between both groups.
“More than one-third of the adult population in the United States has a bachelor’s degree or higher marking the first time in decades of data (Bureau).” However, the underemployment and unemployment rate is proving to devalue a college education. A college degree doesn't mean as much as it used to because more and more people keep getting college degrees, a degree no longer guarantees a job, and often experience supersedes education.
It is often said that education should come before anything else. “Education is the most important factor in the development of the country” (“Education”). However, this is not always true in terms of the success of one’s collegiate career. Education is not every student’s top priority, and there are many ways to live successfully after college without focusing on the academic part as your top priority. Only about 30 percent of Americans complete a bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s, with another 10 percent completing an associate’s degree by then (Paulson). Not everyone’s top priority is academics, with many alternatives and goals to pursue, many people drop-out or simply stop trying and eventually flunk out. H...
However, for those that do not wish to go toward the trade route and can afford the cost of higher education a four year university may be highly beneficial. A bachelor’s degree is one of the most common acquired degree among college-bound students. Statically proven, having a bachelor’s degree will lower the student’s chance of unemployment in the future compared to someone with an associate’s degree or less. Although obtaining debt is still a possibility for most millennials due to the rising cost of tuition there are various degrees that have a high return rate due to higher pay. According to Annalyn Kurtz in her article, “Yes, a College Degree is Still Worth It”, those looking to maximize their investment should look toward obtaining a