Chapter 1: Defining Success: Why Are You Here?

Non-traditional students have an ever-growing presence on college campuses, especially community colleges. Non-traditional students can be broadly defined as having one or more of the following characteristics:

• Entry to college delayed at least one year following high school
• 24 years or older
• Having dependents
• Being a single parent
• Being employed full-time
• Being financially independent
• Being incarcerated or a returning citizen
• Veterans of US armed services
• Homeless or at risk of homelessness
• Attending college part-time
• Not having a high school diploma
• First-generation college student
• First generation in the US
• English Language Learner
• Dislocated worker

The degree to which a student is non-traditional can greatly influence college success. The more characteristics from the list a student possesses, the more non-traditional the student may be from the perspective of the college system. However, the student may not view themself as non-traditional since several of the characteristics listed are typical adult behaviors, but when it comes to how colleges serves students, the individual is nontraditional in behaviors, needs, and expectations.

Non-traditional students face critical issues surrounding participation in college and ultimately, college success. These critical issues include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Strategies for managing competing needs on their time
• Difficulty navigating confusing institutional environments
• Understanding the culture of college
• Transitional services not in place to the same degree as for “traditional” students
• Knowledgeable support systems
• Personal barriers
• Unpredictable influences on their schedules
• Work first, study second priorities
• Paying for college
• Underprepared foundation skills (Reading, Writing, Math, Computer Literacy, Human Relations, Oral Communication).

DOES A NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENT SELECT THE SAME COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT AS TRADITIONAL STUDENT?

“College Attendance Demographics” by National Center for Education Statistics

Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) supports the information highlighted in their 2003 report titled, Work First Study Second. During the 1999–2000 academic year, 43% of undergraduates enrolled in post-secondary education were age 24 or older. This age is significant because it is used for determining financial independence for Federal Financial Aid programs (fafsa.ed.gov). Financial independence combined with the growing cost of attending college is leading to a growing number of part-time students enrolled in college classrooms. A more recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicates that the number of non-traditional students passed the 50% mark in 2011 (Number of the Week: ‘Non-Traditional’ Students Are Majority on College Campuses). Research provided in 2012 by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) revealed that 51% of college students qualified as low income and would have to work to cover direct and indirect college expenses. The data shows that almost a third of college students need to work 35 hours/week or more while balancing their course loads, homework, and meeting family responsibilities. A little more than a quarter of non-traditional students are parents and 15% are likely to be single parents.

The face of the college student is changing, as the data shows: Yesterday’s Non-Traditional Student is Today’s Traditional Student.  Financial independence influences attendance patterns and suggests a trend in college selection by non-traditional students. In the Work First Study Second report, 82% percent of the students were employed while attending college and thought of themselves as “employees who study” rather than “students who work.” A significant difference between employees who study and students who work is how they blend work and college attendance. Not surprisingly, employees who study work full-time and attend college part-time; students who work attend college full-time and work part-time. Analyzing the data from NCES around college attendance patterns in the fall of 2013, 4-year colleges, both public and private had over 85% of their full-time student enrollment composed of young adults (under the age of 25). This trend was not true for private for-profit colleges, where young adults represented about 30% of the student population. Students over 24 years old tend to select private for-profit colleges 4-year colleges over public and private 4-year colleges. At 2-year colleges, the same trend could be seen. Approximately 70% of students attending 2-year colleges, both public and private, were young adults and 30% were over the age of 24. Once again, private for-profit colleges were composed of more nontraditional students. Students over 24 years old made up 53% of their student population.

According to NCES data, during the same time period, students over the age of 24 accounted for nearly 50% of the part-time students at public 4-year institutions; nearly 66% of part-time enrollment at private non-profit institutions; and over 75% of part-time students enrolled at 4-year for profit institutions. At 2-year colleges, 55% of the students were young adults at public colleges and 45% were over 24 years of age. Two-year private colleges had only 42% students were young adults and 48% were over 24 years old. At private for-profit 2-year colleges, 35% of part-time students were young adults and 65% were students over the age of 24. Yesterday’s non-traditional students are becoming today’s students and bringing with them a different set of experiences and expectations. Employees who study report being interested in gaining skills to enhance their positions or improve future work opportunities as reasons for attending post-secondary education. In the Work First Study Second report, 80% of the employees who work reported enrolling in post-secondary education to gain a degree or credential. Based on the research, non-traditional students are more likely to display the following preferences/behaviors than traditional students:

• Attend community colleges
• Be working towards an associate degree and vocational certificates
• Major in occupational fields such as computer science, business, vocational/technical fields
• Take fewer courses in behavioral sciences and general education.

WHY DO THE DEMOGRAPHICS MATTER?

If you talk to people who have gone to college 10, 15, 20, or even 40 years ago, you will hear similar stories about what their college experiences were like. College systems and structural foundations have not changed much from the past. The change that is happening is in the student demographics and their needs/ expectations. It is important for students to realize every college has its own culture. Finding a comfortable match between student expectations and college expectations is essential for student success. Looking at demographics can help students think about what type of student needs would impact college selection and how does that relate their individual needs. For example, working students may need more course offering that are online or have shorter class session. Working students may have skills from their jobs and feel that they don’t need certain types of classes as a result. In addition, looking at college selection demographics can help perspective students understand there are many roads to college. Ultimately, college is a dynamic equation. Recognizing expectations from the student’s needs and the college’s ability to provide for those needs is a major factor in the student’s college success.

WHAT FRAMES YOUR VALUE OF EDUCATION? WHAT KIND OF RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT DO YOU EXPECT FROM COLLEGE?

Deciding to go to college has an “opportunity cost.” An opportunity cost is based on the economic principle that there are limited resources available and choices must be made.  Examples of resources would be things like time and money. If you are spending time doing something, you must give up doing something else you want to do. That is the opportunity cost of your choice. Going to college will have an opportunity cost in your life. An important question to ask in the beginning of your college venture is: what are you willing to trade off for going to college?  Opportunity costs are tied to the idea of return on investment.  Once you make an investment of your time and money in college, what investment are you hoping to get in return?

How you define success in relationship to your college experience impacts how you see the concept of return on investment. Some ways to gauge return on investment include: job opportunities after college, immediate financial benefit to earned wages, social network/connections made while attending college, development of communication and other “soft skills,” and personal enrichment and/or happiness.  Short-term rewards compared to long-term rewards are another way to look at return on investment. For example, it takes much longer to become a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of a company than it does to get a well-paid job at the same company. Different skills would be required from the CEO and it may require more investment to acquire those skills. Frances Bronet, the Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Oregon, conducted a survey of former engineering graduates when she taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

She asked former graduates what they felt they had missed in their education. The results were very different depending on how recent their graduation was. Students who had graduated 1 year ago felt that they needed more technical skills. People who had graduated 5 years ago felt that they needed more management skills, and people who had graduated 10-20 years ago felt that they needed more cultural literacy because their work now involved more working with other cultures.  Deciding to go to college is a big decision and choosing a course of study can seem overwhelming to many students. Considering the changing world we live in, knowing what direction to go is not easy. According to Richard Riley, secretary of education under Bill Clinton, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist using technology that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems that we don’t even know.”

PERSONAL INVENTORY QUESTIONS:

1. Why are you here?
2. Why college, why now?
3. How do you define college?
4. What do you imagine college life to be like?
5. How do you know when you are ready for college?
6. What have you done to prepare for college?
7. What do you think college expects from students?
8. What does going to college mean for your future?
9. Using the list of 5 reasons students attend college provided in this chapter, rank your reasons for going to college.
10. In your opinion, is it a good idea for academic counselors to steer high school kids towards either a 4-year degree or vocational training? Should students be steered towards careers that would be a good “fit” for them?
11. Opportunity Cost Analysis: Create a pie chart identifying how you currently spend your time (daily/weekly).

A college website can be like a cookbook, full of great information and ideas, and can be completely overwhelming. Where do you start? Looking at the pictures? Scrolling down through the information? Can you taste the food in your mind just by looking at a picture? Can you imagine a food just from the list of ingredients? Is the number of ingredients needed to make the recipe exciting or paralyzing? How experienced a cook you are can impact your reaction to the cookbook. As you begin navigating new information, remember, world-famous chef and author, Julia Child wasn’t always a great chef! In fact, when she got married, she could barely cook.

Experience isn’t everything. An open mind is paramount. Let the joy of discovering be your guide.

“Take risks and you’ll get pay offs. Learn from your mistakes until you succeed. It’s that simple.”

– Bobby Flay, Master Chef

The role of a college website has changed substantially over the past few years. Student expectations for easy, accessible information drives colleges to get as much information online as possible. It also can lead to a battle for what information makes it onto the home page and how many clicks it will take to find what the student is looking for.  Student services are increasingly utilizing the college website to communicate with students and expecting that students will be proficient in navigating the college website. Students expect to easily locate information; this is helped when the college uses logical organization to the information architecture and design of the website. College websites can be very frustrating to new users, especially if the new user is a first-time college student and is unfamiliar with the underlying structure of the college system. The people creating the college web site may be very familiar with the way their system works and not see the structure as confusing.

Adding to potential confusion can be the lack of ability to view the entire home page of the college depending on the size of monitor or mobile device the student is accessing the website from.

Students are increasingly using smart phones and tablets as their primary viewing device for the Internet. Sometimes key information a student needs may be just out of view on the screen. The experienced user knows to make adjustments, but new users may not. Knowing where and how to get started may not be as easy as the “start here” button.  Logical arrangement of information for the college’s needs may not be a logical progression of information for the student’s needs. From the college perspective, students come in different groups/classifications.

Here are some examples:

• New
• Returning
• Transferring
• Students needing accommodations
• Local residents
• Veterans
• International
• Student-athletes
• Non-credit/Community Education
• Adult Basic Education

Each of these groups can have variations on what their first steps should be. Students aren’t necessarily used to thinking of themselves in terms of these classifications/groups. It can be difficult for first time students, who may fit into more than one of these groups, to decide which one is the place to start.

Most college websites have a “Getting Started” type button on the home page. After clicking that button, a student begins to make a decision about what category of student they are. To an experienced user, this is not an obstacle, but to the first-time college student it may be a barrier. For example, what if a student falls into more than one group or classification? Where does the person fit? The answer may vary from college to college.

In addition, some college websites may not be mobile friendly so that students who are trying to use smartphones or tablets may face additional obstacles. Despite the potential difficulties, today’s college students need to become savvy users of the college website and recognize the role it will play in the communication process.