The New Freshmen: Adult College Students

You wouldn’t know it from most media outlets’ coverage of college, but students over the age of 24 account for more than a quarter of the nation’s undergraduates. In a new report for The Chronicle of Higher Education, senior writer Goldie Blumenstyk outlined the challenges facing this special subgroup of learners, which include parents, veterans, full-time workers and former college students returning for another try at higher education. She shows how adult learners are an  important determinant of  many colleges’ financial survival – including, surprisingly,  some smaller liberal arts campuses. What do we know about the hurdles keeping adult students from completing their degrees on time? Which specialized programs and services have been proven to actually help adult students? And how can local reporters use The Chronicle’s datasets to inform their own reporting on adult learners? Listen to find out what answers The Chronicle found.