The primary purpose of this study was to identify adult African American women undergraduate students' motivations for enrolling in college as measured by Boshier's (1982) Education Participation Scale (EPS). The secondary purpose was to determine if there were differences in motivations based on choice of institutional enrollment and if motivations for enrolling in college could be predicted by selected demographic variables. One hundred fifty-nine participants completed a web-based version of the Education Participation Scale. A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine what motivates adult African American undergraduate women students to participate in education as measured by the Education Participation Scale. The results of this study indicate that adult African American undergraduate women are motivated to return to college, in order, for professional advancement, cognitive interest, and educational preparation. Social contact was the motivation least cited for enrolling in college. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to examine whether there were differences in the motivations to enroll in college for adult African American undergraduate women students enrolled in a university compared to a community college. Using an alpha level of 0.05 for analyses, the MANOVA was not significant indicating that there were no differences found among the women on their motivations to participate in higher education based on choice of institutional enrollment. Lastly, a multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate how well demographic variables could predict motivation for enrolling in college. The five demographic variables or predictors were age, marital status, income, number of dependents, and employment status. Family togetherness and cognitive interest were motivational orientations that could be predicted by the demographic variables in this study. An optional comment section was provided at the end of the questionnaire to give respondents an opportunity to express any additional motivations for enrolling in college. To fulfill a personal goal and be a role model for their children were new motivations identified for returning to college by adult African American women students. Findings of this study suggest that these women have special needs and interests for returning to college and may need assistance with reducing barriers in their pursuit of a college degree. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]