While college enrollment may finally be ticking upward after years of decline, another crisis continues to quietly unfold across higher education. More than 30 percent of first-time students do not return by their second fall semester, according to recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse.
For part-time learners and those above the age of 25, the numbers are even starker. As colleges work to address this challenge, they must recognize a basic truth: today’s students are rarely just students. At National University, we call our learners “ANDers.” That’s because we know many of them are both students and professionals, caregivers, veterans or community leaders. Each of them is juggling multiple responsibilities that don’t pause when class begins.
As I reflect on this work, I often think about a moment early in my own journey: returning to teaching just weeks after my first child was born and completing my PhD coursework while interning across the country. It’s an experience I once assumed I had to keep to myself. Having a child while completing my doctoral coursework made the experience more challenging and changed the trajectory of my character. I felt pressure for doing things out of order and for not fully prioritizing academics. In retrospect, I see how my experiences mirror the lives of so many of our students. I'm an ANDer too, and that perspective shapes my commitment to building solutions that honor the whole human behind every learner.
Too often, higher education views these roles as distractions from learning rather than integral parts of it, leaving many learners without the support they need to succeed. Institutions should instead reimagine their approach to see students as complete people, building a whole-human ecosystem that embeds academic, relational and life supports into every layer of the learner experience. That means not waiting for students to struggle but proactively designing for their access needs from the start. This is an approach rooted in disability scholarship but relevant to every learner balancing work, family, health and school.
As an Opportunity University, we believe opening doors widely also carries an ethical obligation: to lead with care, empathy and a commitment to meet each student where they are. That includes taking the time to truly see each person, understand their realities and provide personalized support that affirms their worth and supports them as they obtain their academic and professional goals. Our students bring extraordinary gifts, strengths and lived experiences to National University, and we are the fortunate ones entrusted to help usher them forward.
Of course, ANDers are not a phenomenon only found at National. They're everywhere, and many feel they don’t quite belong in college because their lives don’t match the outdated ideal of a traditional student. Nearly two thirds of college students now work, squeezing in classes between shifts. Close to half are financially independent, their minds preoccupied not only with upcoming exams but with financing households, managing kid soccer schedules and, in many cases, basic needs including securing safe housing and food. Millions are raising children, carving out time to study after their kids have gone to bed.
The traditional student who enrolls full-time straight from high school with minimal outside responsibilities is no longer the majority, yet many colleges still design support services, course schedules, financial aid structures and faculty expectations around that vanishing archetype. The consequences are profound. When institutions treat students’ jobs or caregiving obligations as distractions rather than realities, they force those who are balancing work, family and school to operate at a disadvantage. When institutions broaden that image, more learners can see themselves as capable and welcomed.
For many, it becomes an impossible balancing act, not for lack of ability or motivation but because they simply are not the students for whom our systems were imagined. For example, the SPARK Collaborative (2025) found that parenting students have a similar GPA compared to nonparenting students, yet only 17% complete a degree in six years compared to 50% of nonparenting students. The default paradigm was built for another era, with institutions waiting for students to adapt to it rather than the other way around.
Students shouldn’t have to be remade to fit higher education. Higher education needs to evolve to meet them, which requires having greater flexibility in course formats and pacing, recognizing prior learning, deeply integrating student supports and creating a campus culture that values students’ outside roles by valuing their cultural capital as an asset in the higher education setting. It also requires a fundamental shift in mindset to see students as whole humans whose academic success is intertwined with their employment, family, health and mental well-being.
At National, this philosophy guides our Whole Human Council, a body that brings together students, faculty and staff to ensure real student experiences, not outdated assumptions, drive our decisions. It reflects our Whole Human commitment, which is an aspiration to honor every learner, faculty and staff member as a complete person. We work to weave these values into how we teach, the culture we build and how we examine policies to expand access and success. The Council uses an ACE model—advise, consult/co-create, educate—to shape programs, policies and student services throughout all university operations.
For higher education, the goal should not be to restore a nostalgic vision of the traditional student but to build systems that can support the learners of the here and now. These individuals bring maturity, purpose, resilience and beautifully complex lives to the pursuit of learning. If colleges continue to act as though they are only students, we will keep losing capable learners who could thrive if they are met where they are. If we instead embrace their full identities, we can unlock extraordinary potential, not only for individuals but for families, communities and the workforce our nation urgently needs. The present and future of higher education is the ANDer. It's time higher education reflected that reality.
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