The Great Upheaval: Higher Education's Past, Present, and Uncertain Future

by Arthur Levine

Colleges and universities are already contending with another age-related challenge. Levine and Dean (2012) found that traditional-aged students 18 to 22 years old differ markedly from their older classmates. Older adults are more likely to be women, attend college part time, come to campus just to go to classes, work longer hours, and have a host of off-campus responsibilities, including jobs, families, spouses/partners, noncollege friends, and an off-campus community life. Among students who are 25 or older, 51 percent are parents (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2018; Marcus, 2019). Compared to their traditional-aged peers, they’re far more likely to come from a low-income background (66% versus 36%) (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2018; Marcus, 2019). They’re also working longer hours while enrolled: 57 percent work more than twenty hours per week (Marcus 2019). College is generally not their primary concern but only a part of the mix. The balancing act is often too much to manage: the six-year completion rate for students who enroll at age 24 or older is 48 percent, compared to 64 percent for “traditional” students (Causey et al., 2020). According to Levine and Dean’s research, these students are seeking the same kind of relationship with their colleges that they have with their banks, supermarkets, and internet providers. They ask the same four things of each: (1) convenience, (2) service, (3) a quality product, and (4) low cost. With regard to college...