Being older than 25, working, commuting, having dependents sound like challenges, but often predicted key academic successes
The number of students in higher education who don’t come straight from high school is rapidly increasing across the country. Yet little research has addressed how the characteristics of post-traditional students affect key academic outcomes. New findings from the University of Kansas show there are some advantages to students who are older and working while studying.
Researchers analyzed characteristics of post-traditional students, often referred to as nontraditional students, in a highly competitive engineering program at a Hispanic-serving Research 1 institution in the southeastern United States. Authors wanted to better understand how factors like being older than 25, working full-time while attending school, having a GED, having dependents or commuting influenced factors like cumulative grade-point average, enrollment the following semester and if students graduated in six years.
Key findings included one variable, being a part-time student, negatively predicted cumulative GPA, enrollment the next semester and six-year graduation rates. However, being older than 25, a commuter and working full time positively predicted six-year graduation rates, while being older and commuting negatively predicted retention.
The sample included more than 7,000 students in undergraduate and computing programs. Haiying Long, professor of educational psychology at KU and one of the study’s authors, said the research team wanted to focus on the program as it has traditionally served underrepresented populations.
“This institution has a large number of post-traditional students. We use data to understand the needs of this unique group of students,” Long said. “If we include the characteristics of post-traditional students, the amount who fit in that classification is more than 90%. The factors we are looking at are key measures not only in engineering, but throughout higher education.”
The findings that being an older student and working full time was not a disadvantage for student success was something Long described as “exciting news.” It shows older students can bring advantages like self-discipline and life experience to their academic work and that they can also often financially support themselves. The fact that being a part-time student negatively predicted three measures of student success shows that more attention needs to be paid to supporting those students, the researchers said.
Factors such as race and gender also play a role, but the researchers controlled for those variables to focus on the influence of age, enrollment status, having dependents and working on success in an engineering program.
Researchers examined an engineering program as the discipline has long had underrepresentation of post-traditional students and populations like women and underrepresented communities reaching the higher levels of education and representation in the professional field as well.
The field is also understood to be in high demand, and when more graduates are needed to fill positions in the workforce — while more students are simultaneously post-traditional — further research is necessary to help ensure those students’ success, Long said.
The findings are key to both policymakers and institutional leaders, given demographic changes in society.
“Especially right now, every university is talking about an enrollment cliff,” Long said of declining numbers of high school graduates. “That means we need to have strategies to support the unique needs of post-traditional students. Whoever can figure out how to support them will be in good position for the future.”
Co-written by Bruk Berhane, Jingjing Liu and Julian Sosa Molano of Florida International University and Su Gao of the University of Central Florida, it was published in The Journal of Continuing Higher Education.
The findings indicate the importance of not only supporting post-traditional students but doing so from an assets-based approach, the researchers said. Focusing on the positive attributes such students bring and offering supports based on what they do well, such as offering alternate office hours or virtual support for those who can’t make it to campus during traditional times due to job obligations would be a start, they write.
Research often focuses on GPA when studying student retention. But the study’s results indicate that focusing more on six-year graduation rates could be more effective for measuring success of post-traditional students, because along with next semester enrollment, the outcome was significantly predicted by post-traditional characteristics.
Engineering traditionally encourages full-time enrollment to both keep students engaged and promote on-time graduation. However, the struggles of part-time students show that more support for the population, such as hybrid in-person and virtual courses could lead to better outcomes for part-time, post-traditional students, according to the authors.
Long is conducting further research comparing the success rates of older students to part-time students to further understand what factors lead to their retention and success. She is also conducting research with colleagues to analyze longitudinal data from post-traditional students in similar settings to understand their cumulative GPA, retention and graduation rates over a longer period, as well as to better understand their on-campus experiences.
“We want to help get this understudied population in the spotlight and tell policymakers how important this group is and about their unique needs,” Long said. “It’s not always the case that older students take longer to graduate or that they are less likely to finish. There are advantages to being an older student.”
Journal
The Journal of Continuing Higher Education
DOI
enefits in being older college student while working
Being older than 25, working, commuting, having dependents sound like challenges, but often predicted key academic successes
Peer-Reviewed PublicationLAWRENCE — The number of students in higher education who don’t come straight from high school is rapidly increasing across the country. Yet little research has addressed how the characteristics of post-traditional students affect key academic outcomes. New findings from the University of Kansas show there are some advantages to students who are older and working while studying.
Researchers analyzed characteristics of post-traditional students, often referred to as nontraditional students, in a highly competitive engineering program at a Hispanic-serving Research 1 institution in the southeastern United States. Authors wanted to better understand how factors like being older than 25, working full-time while attending school, having a GED, having dependents or commuting influenced factors like cumulative grade-point average, enrollment the following semester and if students graduated in six years.
Key findings included one variable, being a part-time student, negatively predicted cumulative GPA, enrollment the next semester and six-year graduation rates. However, being older than 25, a commuter and working full time positively predicted six-year graduation rates, while being older and commuting negatively predicted retention.
The sample included more than 7,000 students in undergraduate and computing programs. Haiying Long, professor of educational psychology at KU and one of the study’s authors, said the research team wanted to focus on the program as it has traditionally served underrepresented populations.
“This institution has a large number of post-traditional students. We use data to understand the needs of this unique group of students,” Long said. “If we include the characteristics of post-traditional students, the amount who fit in that classification is more than 90%. The factors we are looking at are key measures not only in engineering, but throughout higher education.”
The findings that being an older student and working full time was not a disadvantage for student success was something Long described as “exciting news.” It shows older students can bring advantages like self-discipline and life experience to their academic work and that they can also often financially support themselves. The fact that being a part-time student negatively predicted three measures of student success shows that more attention needs to be paid to supporting those students, the researchers said.
Factors such as race and gender also play a role, but the researchers controlled for those variables to focus on the influence of age, enrollment status, having dependents and working on success in an engineering program.
Researchers examined an engineering program as the discipline has long had underrepresentation of post-traditional students and populations like women and underrepresented communities reaching the higher levels of education and representation in the professional field as well.
The field is also understood to be in high demand, and when more graduates are needed to fill positions in the workforce — while more students are simultaneously post-traditional — further research is necessary to help ensure those students’ success, Long said.
The findings are key to both policymakers and institutional leaders, given demographic changes in society.
“Especially right now, every university is talking about an enrollment cliff,” Long said of declining numbers of high school graduates. “That means we need to have strategies to support the unique needs of post-traditional students. Whoever can figure out how to support them will be in good position for the future.”
Co-written by Bruk Berhane, Jingjing Liu and Julian Sosa Molano of Florida International University and Su Gao of the University of Central Florida, it was published in The Journal of Continuing Higher Education.
The findings indicate the importance of not only supporting post-traditional students but doing so from an assets-based approach, the researchers said. Focusing on the positive attributes such students bring and offering supports based on what they do well, such as offering alternate office hours or virtual support for those who can’t make it to campus during traditional times due to job obligations would be a start, they write.
Research often focuses on GPA when studying student retention. But the study’s results indicate that focusing more on six-year graduation rates could be more effective for measuring success of post-traditional students, because along with next semester enrollment, the outcome was significantly predicted by post-traditional characteristics.
Engineering traditionally encourages full-time enrollment to both keep students engaged and promote on-time graduation. However, the struggles of part-time students show that more support for the population, such as hybrid in-person and virtual courses could lead to better outcomes for part-time, post-traditional students, according to the authors.
Long is conducting further research comparing the success rates of older students to part-time students to further understand what factors lead to their retention and success. She is also conducting research with colleagues to analyze longitudinal data from post-traditional students in similar settings to understand their cumulative GPA, retention and graduation rates over a longer period, as well as to better understand their on-campus experiences.
“We want to help get this understudied population in the spotlight and tell policymakers how important this group is and about their unique needs,” Long said. “It’s not always the case that older students take longer to graduate or that they are less likely to finish. There are advantages to being an older student.”
Journal
The Journal of Continuing Higher Education
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