Increase in Nontraditional College Students
Seven Works Cited A 1995 report from the National Center for Education Statistics reveals that 76 million American adults, 40 percent of the adult population, are enrolled in adult education classes, an 8 percent increase from 1991 ("Adults Thrive"). Nearly 50 percent of the 14.2 million college and university students in the United States are over twenty-four years of age, and the percentage is rising (Mathews w22). Enrollment in degree programs at the University of Phoenix, the University of Denver, and Regis University, schools catering to working adults, has almost doubled in the last five years (Scanlon 3A). Between the reporting years 1985-86 and 1996-97, nationwide enrollment increased 11 percent among students between the ages of 25-29, 5 percent among 30- to 34-year-olds, and a whopping 65 percent for those 35 years old and older (Hussar 4). What explains the increase in the enrollment of nontraditional1 college students? The causes are many and range from changes in the job market and the work environments to a desire for a more rewarding career and to an increasing U.S. population.
One reason for the enrollment increase is job changes and company downsizing. As companies adjust to ever-changing economic conditions, many people find themselves unemployed and look to a college education to help them attain different or better jobs. And it is not only newly hired, younger employees who are the unfortunate casualties of corporate downsizing. Tonye Nelson had been an accounting clerk for twenty years. On March 2, 1996, she arrived at work only to be told she had been laid off because of company down...
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...: w22. Online. Lexis-Nexis. 2 Nov. 1998.
Pickard, Marilyn. Personal interview. 19 Nov.1998.
Rich, Kim. "College Pays." Anchorage Daily News 4 Aug 1996: D.1. Online. Proquest. 19 Nov.1998.
Scanlon, Bill. "Adult Education; Colorado Colleges Reach Out to the Grown-Up Crowd." Rocky Mountain News S Apr.1998: F.3A. Ouline. Lexis-Nexis. 2 Nov.1998.
1 Students between the ages of 14 and 24 are commonly considered traditional students, whale those aged 25 or older are considered nontraditional.
2 The baby-boom generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, comprises 76-77 million individuals, an average of 4.2 million births per year. The next generation of individuals, born between 1965 and 1978, sometimes called the baby-bust generation or Generation x, averaged only 3.4 million births per year.
When you think of a typical college student you may think of a young adult around 18 to 22 years old. You may also think of someone with little world experience that’s off on their own for the first time in their short life. Surprisingly, there has been a recent phenomenon with an increase in older people now attending post-secondary education, specifically the baby boomer generation. Libby Sander, a staff reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education, explores this topic in an article called “Blue-Collar Boomers Take Work Ethic to College” (782). Sander combines the use of all three rhetorical appeals throughout her article to successfully argue that the wave of baby boomers enrolled in postsecondary education is changing the perception
Kelly, Andrew. “The Problem Is That Free College Isn’t Free.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 20 January 2016.Web. 20 March
Over the past few years, people have begun to see going to college as a way to achieve the American Dream through career-readiness. People used to go to college, hoping to get a better well-rounded education. For most the well-rounded education, it usually came with the courses required for a liberal arts education. The courses would provide a level of analytical and in-depth understanding that would prepare the students for both life and whichever career path chosen. No matter the amount of money paid, parents would be willing to gi...
According to current estimates approximately 75 percent of college students are now nontraditional students – older than 25, attending school part time, and having delayed entry or reentry into college for a variety of personal reasons. Post secondary education is needed by such students to develop their careers and to acquire new skills and knowledge in a global society where they are likely to have longer life spans than did workers in the past. This trend is not restricted to North America; it is a worldwide phenomenon.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition and relevant fees have increased by 893 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). 893 percent is a very daunting percentage considering that it has surpassed the rise in the costs of Medicare, food, and housing. As America is trying to pull out of a recession, many students are looking for higher education so they can attain a gratified job. However, their vision is being stained by the dreadful rise in college costs. College tuition is rising beyond inflation. Such an immense rise in tuition has many serious implications for students; for example, fewer students are attending private colleges, fewer students are staying enrolled in college, and fewer students are working in the fields in which they majored in.
Murray, Charles. "Are Too Many People Going to College?" The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute 8 September 2008.
”The pro-life movement seeks to force their moral beliefs on others - grounded in their own religion or personal philosophy. The pro-choice movement doesn 't make claims on the morality of abortion - we leave that as an individual choice for every woman faced with an unwanted pregnancy. If they feel abortion is wrong and they want to give their child up for adoption, or keep it, we will support their decision. Pro-life people say "Abortion is wrong;" we only say
Pro-choice believes that it is the women’s choice to decide what to do with her body because it is ultimately the woman’s choice when this situation comes because it is her body and life. There can be multiple reasons why a woman might decide to take the action of abortion, but pro-life will not agree with any of those reasons because they do not think abortion is the answer. Some women may not be equipped to raise a child; therefore, it is important that she is able to choose abortion. For pro-choice woman they might view abortion as the only answer to protect herself from certain events in her life. It is the individual’s right to control their own reproduction and it is a fundamental right (Chemerinsky, 2017) which is protected under the constitution coupled with it being a basic human right. Most women do not become pregnant by choice, so it is wrong to force them to remain pregnant when they do not want to be. Before abortion was legal it was not always safe which consequently caused a lot of harm to women who needed it “numerous essays and interviews recount the grave indignities, health risks, and even deaths of women who sought illegal abortions in the pre-Roe era” (Chemerinsky, 2017
I approached Pennstate this past August with a great deal of anxiety, interest, and excitement. I had no clue what school would be like, and I knew that I would have to learn how to adjust to my new student life. The rapid adaptation I would need is one that would be comparable a scientist in a lab, trying to discover a cure for the new strain of flu virus that would thrust the world into an unnecessary panic.
One of the major pieces to becoming a successful business man/woman is receiving a college education. A college degree is viewed as a necessity and is slowly becoming an unreachable goal for some people. Most believe that the cost of college has been rising and continues to rise, and that the rate of increase is outpacing that of other costs (NAICU). As the cost of college rises, families have to change their way of life to be fortunate enough to send their children to college. Along with changing how families’ live, many other problems are produced in various ways. The cost of college should be lowered because it imposes a burden on parents and their children, causes some students to alter their choice of which college to attend, and prevents some students from even going to college.
Murray, Charles. "Are There Too Many People Going to College?" They Say, I Say. 2nd ed. N.p.: WW Norton&Company Incorporated, 2011. N. pag. Print.
Throughout the years my mother has always been there for me and has been the one true positive factor in my life. She left my father with a 7 year old and two 3 year old children making $4.75 an hour at Walgreen’s. She has always defended me and helped me do many things I would not have been able to do without her help. Her love and devotion has fought many battles against my father and schools that did not care about the student but only test scores. It hasn’t always been easy and many years were spent with sometimes just enough money to eat, but through it all she has been a strong beacon of hope.
The third group is the normal group, they are usually typical college students attending their scheduled classes, getting the homework assignments done and turned in on time. The normal group is usually mothers/fathers that have hired baby sitters to watch their son(s)/daughter(s) while they attend the college they are enrolled in. They spend their recreation time studying, exercising, having fun with their friends, spending time with family, or simply offering their time to give back to their community.
When I needed to talk, she listened. When I was ill, she healed me. When I was hungry, she fed me. This frail woman whom I call my mom was a superwoman while I was growing up. With wisdom, she guided; with tenderness, she spoke; and with love, she raised me. Although we were very poor, my mother made it a point always to give me a present on my birthday.
...; I like to believe that I've accepted my self-induced isolation from her with grace, but I must admit that I do hold the hope of bridging the gap between my mother and I. I also hold the hope of amending myself for all the times I've knowingly and purposefully hurt her. Although she is not a god, as I originally assumed, she is a good woman. She has raised me, sheltered me, and loved me for over seventeen years without asking for more than casual chores in return. I believe that the greatest compliment I could ever give my mother is to grow up to be exactly what she wants me to be. I want to make her happy. My gift to her will be my success in life, so that when she's old and gray, and she's knitting me a hideous sweater in her creaky rocking chair, she can sigh, and mumble to herself, "Wow, it was worth it."