Adult students follow many paths to college. They often return to college later in life
after having left college as a traditional student. Many come to college for the first time
several years after high school. Often they approach college after some change in their work,
family, or personal situation. Adult students experience college in addition to the rest of
their life. Their college connection comes within a web of other connections.
Adult students are examples of centrifugal growth, of academic growth towards
outward roles and experiences. Adults do experience the inward journey of
intellectual and personal development, but they also have an outward journey of selfefficacy.
They significantly impact the daily lives of their children, their families,
their fellow workers, and their communities. These individuals translate and apply
the knowledge and skill of the undergraduate experience to their daily world of adult
life. The undergraduate classroom, the family gathering, and the workplace staff
meeting are all of equal importance in a teaching-learning exchange. As adults, they
value and wish to learn expertise from the undergraduate experience, but they also
view themselves as experts in their own domains of life. Adults do not live apart;
rather, they are a part of their world. (Kasworm, 1990 p. 366)
These connections and experiences make them both very committed to learning and
more likely to leave college. They have higher grade point averages and they are more likely
to drop out. They actively participate in classroom dialogues and have trouble trying to
balance the demands of work and family and school. They experience life changes that fuel
a return to college and that paradoxically also stall or block their persistence. (Introduction by author)