Back to School: College’s Hottest Commodity — The Adult Learner
With all the economic uncertainty and volatility — inflation, supply chain disruptions, and global conflict — the recent federal jobs report showing strong employment growth is welcome news. But there is more work to be done in order to capitalize on the good news.
Let me explain with an example.
Thornton Melon was ahead of his time and he didn’t even know it. Who the heck is Thornton Melon you ask? Let me jog your memory. He was the brash and gregarious wealthy businessman in the hit movie, “Back to School” (1986) — you know the character played by comedian Rodney “No Respect” Dangerfield. Even though a successful businessman, Thornton never attained a college degree. Ringing in Thornton’s ear was his immigrant father who, in the movie said, “If a man has no education, he’s got nothing.” And Thornton’s son, Jason, was unsure if college mattered, so Thornton enrolled in college along with his unsure son.
Hilarious hijinks ensued. An older student — a parent with his son — living a young person’s college life. Thornton Mellon was the proverbial fish out of water. In the movie, college was a young person’s game, but the old successful businessman had some tricks up his sleeve and he won most everyone over.
This situation — the older adult going back to college is a well-traveled movie plot. In 1960’s “High Time”, Harvey Howard — another businessman in his fifties (played by Bing Crosby) goes back to school for four years — even living in the dorm — while earning his degree.
And then there is the 2003 hit movie, “Old School” where Mitch (Luke Wilson), Beanie (Vince Vaughn), and Frank the Tank (Will Ferrell) relive their college glory days by starting a fraternity at their alma mater — including streaking one night through their college town.
“Back to School,” “High Time,” and “Old School” play into our prejudices about who we think a typical college student is. Adults — the “adult learner” — are out of place; they not the norm. (“Adult learner” is used as short hand for older individuals even though everyone attending a post-secondary program is an adult — save for the Doogie Howsers of the world).
In higher education, adult learners are often lumped into the “non-traditional” category. But higher education’s use of “non-traditional” helps perpetuate the problem. It makes students, especially the parents, working adults, veterans, and other historically marginalized groups feel outside the mainstream — as if somehow they are or different or lesser than other “traditional” students. It’s wrong and we must banish the term. At best, these students are “post-traditional.” Better yet; they are just students.
At the same time with declining enrollment in colleges and universities across the country, the “adult learner” is the hot commodity.
Why?
In the already rapidly changing job market — accelerated by Covid — we must do a better job of meeting emerging workforce demand. The fact is many of today’s job require some post-secondary education — a credential, certificate, or degree. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found in a recent report that in 2020, 65% of all jobs require some post-secondary training or degree. Yet, according to a recent report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 39 million people in this country do not have a post-secondary credential. Additionally, the number of individuals without a post-secondary credential continues to grow, with the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center noting an 8.6% increase from their previous report. That’s heading in the wrong direction.
Coupled with automation and disruptive innovations, like artificial intelligence, the nation’s job market is being dramatically transformed. According to Dr. Laura Schultz from the Rockefeller Institute of Government, 56% of jobs filled by people across the country are likely to be automated. It is not that the nation is losing 56% of total available jobs, the types of jobs are changing — necessitating upskilling and new training. That means more people in the current workforce need some post-secondary credentialing.
According to a recent report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center 39 million people in this country have no post-secondary credential.
While there is a growing demand for individuals to attain some level of post-secondary education, fewer high school graduates are immediately going to college — and it’s not just because of the pandemic; it’s been an ongoing trend in this nation for some time. The latest data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found enrollment declined 9.4% for college undergraduates nationwide since the start of the pandemic. Yet, the pandemic didn’t start the downward trend — it’s been happening for some time. Looking at the same National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reports (see past reports), they show a decline going back to well before the pandemic.
As Bureau of Labor statistics demonstrate in the chart below, the nation is at its lowest percentage of those recent high school graduates that are attending college in the past several years. Currently, 61.8% of high school graduates are attending college — the lowest point over the past 15 years. In fact, it’s nearly a 12% decrease from the recent high mark of 70.1% in 2009. Even though the percentage fluctuates, there has been a precipitous decline over the past several years even before the pandemic — although data suggest the pandemic drove the number further downward. In other words, fewer are choosing to go to college right out of high school, only adding to the numbers of those older Americans with no post-secondary credential.
And as statistics from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show, individuals are more successful if they attain a post-secondary credential. There are many ways to look at it. Let’s look at the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is highest among those individuals without a high school diploma and lowest among those with a post-secondary credential.
As the chart below demonstrates, not only is the unemployment rate lower — wages are higher as well. But again, it’s not always a degree that’s needed. They key is to get an individual the credential they need — from certificates to degrees with the possibility to attain additional credentials throughout the course of their lifetime.
Movies like “High Time,” “Back to School,” and “Old School” are comic gold because they play into our notion of what we think it means to be a college student — typically a recent high school graduate. No doubt, a vast majority of college students are graduates fresh out of high school. Yet, while that may be our common understanding, it’s hardly the only kind of student. Our typical view of a college student is still the main demographic — but it’s changing. For every high school student is a Thornton Melon. Therefore, we need to embrace the change and build an education system to support individuals from every walk of life.
It’s easier said than done. In post-secondary education there is a long history adapting to what society needs (see Frederick Rudolph’s The American College and University: A History). But too often we are slow to change — and time is not on our side. Now is the time we must turn ideas into action.
And there are immediate things we can do to get more people the credential that they need to succeed. If more people are entering the workforce instead of college out of high school, we must ensure they have an onramp to ongoing upskilling. In many cases, people have some post-secondary education, yet no degree or credential to show for it. But there are solutions, like credential as you go. It’s a major rethinking of higher education, and leaders, like Dr. Nan Travers, my colleague at SUNY Empire State College, is leading the way. It’s a big and bold. It’s also commonsense. Yet, while it is still under development, it’s needed now.
As the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics illustrates, the foundation of a credential as you go program is the traditional college degree — associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate — but a traditional degree is not the only way to demonstrate mastery of a skill for the current and emerging workforce need. Work that is being done by SUNY Empire’s Dr. Travers along with the Lumina Foundation and others are weaving together a system where individuals can attain certificates, micro-credentials, badges, and trainings that can build towards traditional degrees or can themselves be used to demonstrate to employers the individual has the necessary skills for the job.
Another area is the expansion of the use of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) — that is granting college credit for previous work, training, and other life experience. Not only does PLA save time and money, it also leads to higher completion rates. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning found that completion was 22% higher for adult learners with PLA than adult students without it. But PLA must be expanded more broadly — something a task force of leading higher education officials called for in a recent report issued by the American Council on Education.
There is a lot of learning prior to a formal degree or in a non-traditional academic system that has meaning and value and people should be recognized for it. There are too many individuals with some college, but no credential — college credits to nowhere. People should also have the opportunity to take what they’ve learned in previous college experience, work, or trainings as a foundation to a formal college degree. It should be easy and seamless; not the current Rube Goldberg machine it feels like for too many who need upskilling, yet find it difficult to navigate. We need to master the stackable, seamless system where a person can easily enter and exit higher education as needed over their lifetime or career.
There is a lot of learning prior to a formal degree that has meaning and value, and people should be recognized for it. There are too many with some college, no credential — college credits to nowhere.
In addition for the need to build a truly robust and streamlined credential as you go system and prior learning assessment, we need to continue to break down barriers to upskilling that leave too many people behind, like financial illiteracy that put too many people in debt without a degree or credential to the lack of child care and food insecurity. Then there are the barriers within the formal structure of the academy, like rigid schedules that make it difficult for individuals like parents and working people to get an education. It’s reminiscent of the scene from “Back to School”:
Jason Melon (son): Uh, we got Economics tomorrow at 11 o’clock.
Thornton Melon (father): 11 o’clock? No good. I got a massage 11 o’clock. Tell ’em to make it 2 o’clock.
Jason Melon: No, dad. Uh, you don’t get it. They’re not gonna re-schedule the classes around your massage.
Thornton Melon: All right, 11 o’clock, but I’m gonna talk to that Dean. I mean, these classes could be a real inconvenience.
While this comedic take is funny, the situation is all too true for many older individuals who want to access higher education and massage appointments aren’t the problem — it’s work, their children’s school or daycare schedule, and other of life’s many responsibilities that become insurmountable barriers. It’s incumbent upon educators to make access as flexible and open as possible, or those 39 million Americans won’t get the education they need. We need to tailor education to the needs and goals of the individual, like Dr. Peter Smith powerfully argued in his book Free-Range Learning in the Digital Age. Technology — like supplementing in-class instruction with synchronous online learning or virtual reality — can help bridge the divide.
Change in post-secondary education is hardly a foreign or wild concept. We’ve adapted the system of post-secondary education on a massive scale to meet demand before. The nation greatly expanded higher education after World War II with the G.I. Bill where 2,232,000 returning veterans attended college to in order to upskill and meet current job demands. So, it’s been done before and it must be done again.
Education isn’t always a linear path from high school to college to career. More often than not, it’s a winding journey in and out of various jobs and educational needs over time. Yet, our system is not built to quickly adapt to the ever-changing world. Many people are entering the workforce with the future need of post-secondary education in the middle of their career. We’ve yet to develop an integrated system of lifelong learning — and it’s needed now. It’s time to get people back to school.
