During the past decade, college student enrollment has encompassed increasing numbers of students older than the traditional age range of 17 to 23. This is not a new precedent; students in colonial colleges spanned a wide age range. Discussed are student ages from the colonial era through the latter nineteenth century. (RM)

Addresses "the retardation problem," over-aged students retained in a grade because of failure to make "normal" annual progress. Concentrates on how influences in the 1940s in South Australia refocused attentions on over-aged students changing the substance of educational debate regarding their classroom presence and the…