Trying to Get Adult Student Support Right

There is a great article in Inside Higher Ed about how the Colleges of Law in California is supporting its adult students. The college serves a student body where the average age is 36 and the majority of students attend part-time. They've redesigned their support services around the realities of their students' lives, and the model needs to be considered by any university salivating over the adult learner market. 

The college recognized it wasn't fair or realistic to hand part-time students a 10-week Bar Prep program and expect them to simply drop their jobs and family obligations for the duration. So they changed the program, expanded existing one-on-one coaching, and added in-person simulations. They also actively engaged students in conversations about whether the timing was right for them to attempt the exam. The college had already established an environment in which an advisor can tell a student, without embarrassment, "this isn't the right time for you." That takes staff who are trained for adult learners, policies that create room for those conversations, and an institutional culture that treats adult students as partners rather than problems.

Tuition-dependent universities who are experiencing significant declines in traditional full-time enrollments are eyeing online and on-campus adult learners as a stop-gap. Enrollment projections look compelling on a slide deck. But when the adult learner, who works full-time, is raising a family, and is committing real money and irreplaceable time to earn a credential, arrives on day one they find a system built entirely for someone else. The advising office closes at 4:30 p.m. The financial aid forms assume a 22-year-old dependent. The academic calendar has no accommodation for the fact that "spring break" means nothing to a 38-year-old and the student services staff have been trained to support 18-22 year-olds. 

The lesson from the Colleges of Law is that you have to first know the students you serve, then design every support system around them. Train your staff accordingly and build a culture of candor rather than performance. If universities are serious about serving adult learners, and not merely enrolling them, they have make a genuine commitment, apply meaningful resources, and admit that the old playbook does not work.