Adult Education

A whole new generation of learners is going back to school
by Tammy Hansen

Anna-Marie Bratton had a decision to make. After sixteen years as an insurance claims adjuster, she was laid off in 2002. Other insurance firms made job offers, but Bratton chose to walk away from her career to pursue a lifelong dream. At 36, the married mother of two headed back to college to study for a bachelor’s degree and teaching credential. She recently finished her first year teaching at Prescott Junior High School in Modesto.

 “Every single day I walk onto my campus, and I walk into that classroom, and I have to pinch myself,” she says. “I can’t believe I have this job. I’m so happy.”

Bratton is so enamored with school that she has returned to Chapman University College and is working toward her Special Education master’s degree. Her classmates, she says, are a lot like her—older with children, jobs, and real-life challenges.

 They are what educators call ‘adult learners.’ Most are over 25 years old, juggle families and jobs, and somehow find time to cram classes into already packed schedules. They also represent the majority of college students today. In fact, only 16 percent of university students are fresh from high school and living on campus. Close to 40 percent of U.S. university students are over 25. And a whopping 60 million U.S. adults are taking some sort of work related course, according to a 2006 report from the country’s Secretary of Education Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

“The buzzword ‘lifelong learner’ that we used to throw around is now the reality,” says Humphreys College Stockton campus Instructor Linda Rahmoller.

Changing Students, Changing Needs

It’s a trend that has been slow to reach the Central Valley. Less than 24 percent of the residents in Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties have a bachelor’s degree, a number well below other California communities, says Niki V. Santo, Director at Chapman University College Modesto in Salida. Many adult learners at Valley schools represent a first generation of seekers in higher education. With a historical emphasis on farming and manufacturing, the local workforce proved to be a fertile job market for people without a degree for decades. 

“A lot of it is cultural,” says Santo. “Getting a degree wasn’t high on their list.”

That is slowly changing as Valley cities become more urban and the job market more sophisticated. These adult learners return to school to change careers, improve skills, and attain higher salaries in their existing positions. Several local colleges now compete for the attention of adult learners. It’s a business decision, but also one that benefits local communities, Santo says. Studies show that a worker with a bachelor’s degree earns $1 million more than the same worker with only a high school degree over a lifetime.

Consultant Dr. Brenda Harms of Stamats, a marketing firm that helps universities recruit and keep up student enrollment, says higher education is increasingly a prerequisite to employment in this country. Advancement within a field is also often a matter of continued schooling. Newer schools such as University of Phoenix are blazing new paths in serving the working population, and some traditional universities are working to compete. Change comes slow, but it is happening.

The downfall of the “tech bubble” in 2001 accelerated the emphasis on adult learners, says Bob Bechill, Director of University Extended Education at California State University Stanislaus. The Turlock college had almost four thousand adult learners last year. Baby Boomers originally went back to school for jobs, and then embraced the idea of being lifelong learners. Institutions, including the slow-to-move brick and mortar universities, are responding with night classes, online courses, and programs that cater to the older crowd.

“It’s not going to improve overnight,” he says. But “there’s some kind of vehicle, some kind of institution, that can meet your needs now.”

The Faces of Adult Education

So who are these over 25 students changing the face of education? They are adults who demand a high level of service and convenience for the high price they will pay for a certificate, associate’s, or bachelor’s degree. They are professionals seeking the next step in their degree, laborers seeking longevity in their careers, job changers, and even seniors looking for challenging activities during retirement.

Gerardo Martinez is one of these students. Already general sales manager for CBS Radio’s KQJK, the Stockton resident is among the first adult students in the Executive MBA (EMBA) program at CSU Stanislaus. The father of four spends every Saturday in class working toward his next degree. He’s the first member of his immigrant, farm worker family to graduate college. Although his family has sacrificed for his studies, he says the example he is setting for his children is worth it. He plans to one day carry the title of vice president or CEO.

“The time is now,” Martinez says.

Martinez, at age 32, is actually on the young side for an adult student, but his drive, his challenges, and his demand for a quality education are common among his peers. Like the EMBA at Stanislaus, the University of the Pacific Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior also caters to working adults, says Barbara Shaw, Associate Provost for Professional and Continuing Education at UOP. Both programs are accelerated to offer a degree in eighteen months via mostly weekend and evening classes in which students work in the same groups throughout the entire program.

“The key is that it’s not just age, it’s situational,” Shaw says. Ages of the some nine thousand adults studying through UOP range from 30 to 55, but one graduate was 60. “There are all kinds of reasons people decide to finish their degree. Every student as an adult is different.”

Chapman University College, which serves only adult students, caters to the specific needs of adult learners. The campus, with some eight hundred students annually, draws students with a plethora of off-hours courses and an emphasis on personal attention. Most students at Chapman are graduate level working adults with very clear demands for their school and teachers, Santo says.

“Almost all the courses here are offered in the evening,” she says. Services are offered in a one-stop-shopping fashion during off-hours, with everything from career counseling to financial information to academic advice in one office. “You don’t have time to be running around to different offices and different people. You want to talk to one person and have accountability.”

A degree isn’t the only attraction for adult learners. Many students are turning to junior colleges for certificate programs, or even just for fun. Claudia Mackey, the coordinator of workshops and programs for adults at San Joaquin Delta College, says students there run the gamut from seniors learning to download digital photos of the grandkids to adults moving into new careers. The average age of a student in a basic computing class is 57, and in a website creation class it’s 38. One woman in a strength training class was 86. All are served through the Workshops and Programs for Adults branch of Delta College.

College is Not Easy

While more adults are taking advantage of available classes, it still takes tenacity and optimism for a working parent to pursue a degree. Santo says the typical adult learner can take up to a year and a half between the initial inquiries and actually going to school. Family and finances are the major concern for most. Institutions are still learning how best to serve the new majority, so schedules can be daunting. And there is that little factor of being well beyond what many still think of as “college age.”

At 46 and a high school dropout, Marilyn Green of Stockton can attest to the difficulties. Green supervises the staff of courtroom clerks at the Superior Court and has been with the system for twenty-three years, but wanted to prove to herself she could earn a degree. At first, she thought it an impossible task.

“I was terrified. I thought, Oh my God, I can’t do this. I’m not smart enough. I felt 100 years old,” she says. Add to that the financial burden, and Green had to dig deep to make her dream come true. She started slow—a few courses at Delta College. She made sacrifices, missing many evenings and weekends with her family. Fast forward to this summer, and she is finishing up some classes for her University of the Pacific B.S. in Organizational Behavior, but celebrated commencement in May. Her husband and 18-year-old son, a sophomore at Delta College, were there to cheer her on. That made it all worthwhile, she says.

“Education helps the whole family,” she says. “It enhances your life in a lot of different ways.”

Green will be paying off a patchwork of student loans for a while, but doesn’t second-guess her investment. “Some people pay that much for a car,” she says, “but I’ll have my degree forever.”

Money is probably the biggest barrier for adult students, says Santo. “The typical 18-year-old doesn’t think about that. The typical adult learner knows the impact of a school loan.”

Bechill says most adults finance schooling through a mix of bank and student loans. It’s a long-term investment that requires some courage and optimism. He puts it in daunting terms: “Most adult students will be reaching social security age by the time they get their school loans paid off.”

Going back to school is also psychologically challenging. Humphreys Instructor Raholler even sees cultural barriers in students, with women from male dominant households finding it difficult to pursue a degree while caring for the home. Even for students without family or money concerns, the psychological hurdles are high.

“It is intimidating,” Santo says. “We have students who have been out of school for twenty years.”

Finally, some institutions simply aren’t very good at serving adult students. Approximately three quarters of the nation’s schools serve adults somehow, but their success at meeting those students’ needs varies, says Dr. Harms of Stamats. Some traditional schools are only now recognizing the competition that adult-oriented schools represent. Those that have stepped up to serve adults sometimes find it difficult to reach this new student population.

“The piece that many traditional schools haven’t got on board with is recruiting,” Dr. Harms adds. “This is not the captive audience that a 16- to 18-year-old is.”

It is, however, an audience that represents the majority of the U.S. workforce for the future, she says. As the largest segment of the population, Baby Boomers represent the country’s greatest labor asset and one worth major investment from its educators.  Happily, this group of students brings the wisdom of age to the table.

“Adults are remarkably tenacious individuals,” Dr. Harms says. “They’re going to figure it out.”