More and more adults are enrolling at higher education institutions nationwide, but many campuses are still geared toward 18-22 year old, residential students.
Rather than wait for the institution to create a space for them, some non-traditional learners are taking it upon themselves to foster supportive communities to help support the success of other adults at their institution. So far this semester, a number of non-traditional student groups have sprung up, created by adult learners.
This week at Western Kentucky University (WKU), adult learners banded together to form The Non-Traditional Student Alliance. Struggling with the idea that being an adult set him apart from his traditional-aged peers, William Vest, a student at WKU, formed the group to help advocate for the needs of non-traditional students.
“I never felt like an outsider until I came back to college,” Vest told the College Heights Herald.
According to John Hart, interim director of adult learner services at WKU, a survey released in the spring indicated that non-traditional students are interested in meeting similar students, but they are unable to devote the time and resources to accomplish this independently.
Further south in Florida, another non-traditional student group was formed this fall at Seminole State College by students Shannon Conner and Monica Webb, two adult learners looking for camaraderie.
“I saw a need for non-traditional students to come together and help each other out,” Conner told The Seminole Voice.
Neither of these groups require fees from participating students and both were created as a way to form a community for other adult learners to come together and share experiences and stories.
“We need to be a lot more social,” Webb, told The Seminole Voice. “We need an outlet to get together.”
