As the number of traditional-aged students steadily declines in the United States, colleges and universities must seek to attract and enroll the large number of adults who have some college but no degree. This research sought to understand how one southern mid-sized institution recruited and enrolled a consistent number of adult learners over…

The American higher education industry is undergoing severe changes, including financial exigency, decreased state/federal assistance, and increased tuition. While the former changes are relatively apparent, one other change deserves more attention -- the growth of adult learners, specifically females. The seeming lackluster response by…

Foster children are academically at risk as a result of abuse, neglect and family disruptions. Findings from previous studies have underscored the critical role played by foster parents in monitoring the academic progress of the children placed in the home. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to identify the skill…

The purpose of this Executive Position Paper was to research how to design an online, synchronous, asynchronous, or face-to-face training program for higher education instructors to serve the needs of a diverse student population of emergent learners, specifically in the community college sector. The subsequent research resulted in a faculty…

Many students who enroll in online universities will never graduate. Attrition in higher education is accepted and expected; however, in exclusively online programs, it is prolific, with more than 80% of those students who begin an online program leaving before graduating. It is well known in the academic literature that isolation is related to…

Military veterans' prior experiences can impact their study experiences and result in barriers to entering higher education. Prior research on veteran student barriers in higher education has not included the perspectives of faculty and administrators in addition to veterans. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the barriers…

Adult learners represent a growing population of students seeking postsecondary education. This qualitative investigation sought to understand the lived experience of the adult learner during matriculation. Through the use of semi-structured questions, 15 newly enrolled adult learners participated in a private, one-on-one interview to describe…

This study is an informative, phenomenological inquiry, investigating the lived experiences of Black parents and guardians through the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identification process. Through semi-structured oral interviews, parent questionnaires, and parent journaling, the researcher identified participants' lived experiences. Data were…

While federal funding has provided financial benefits to assist the increasing number of veteran students in their academic pursuits, universities have not always been well-equipped to properly support this nontraditional demographic. For this study, the researchers utilized a mixed-methods approach to determine if the enrollment, retention, and…

While federal funding has provided financial benefits to assist the increasing number of veteran students in their academic pursuits, universities have not always been well-equipped to properly support this nontraditional demographic. For this study, the researchers utilized a mixed-methods approach to determine if the enrollment, retention, and…

While federal funding has provided financial benefits to assist the increasing number of veteran students in their academic pursuits, universities have not always been well-equipped to properly support this nontraditional demographic. For this study, the researchers utilized a mixed-methods approach to determine if the enrollment, retention, and…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to learn from the perspectives of adult secondary learners (ASLs) and transition navigators (TNs) regarding how K--12 adult education programs serve ASLs as they prepare to transition to community college. In this study, ASLs are defined as adult students working towards their high school diploma or…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how post 9/11 military veterans described their transitions from military service to postsecondary education in the southwestern United States. The problem statement was: It is not known how post 9/11 military veterans describe their transitions from military service to postsecondary…

Women are the fastest growing population of veterans in the United States. When asked why they joined the military, women have overwhelming indicated they were seeking educational benefits; as such, the number of women veterans attending higher education has risen. While women veterans face many challenges, including physical and mental health…

Colleges and universities continue to experience growth in their online programs, yet retention, persistence, and graduation rates of adult online learners remain problematic. However, only some higher education institutions offer professional development specifically on teaching adult learners online to address the long-standing issue. This…