Save a Seat for Mom in Business 101

Save a Seat for Mom in Business 101

When you close your eyes and picture the typical college student, what comes to mind?  A hipster on his Macbook sipping a double venti frappe-cappuccino latte? According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), you are more likely to sit next to someone’s mother or father.  Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a steady increase in the rise of non-traditional students in higher education.  In 2002 nearly 61 percent of all college students were considered “traditional”, which the NCES describes as anyone who falls under at least one of these seven requirements:

  Older than typical age; in other words, a student whose enrollment         has been delayed beyond the year of high school graduation

  Enrolled part time

  Financially independent

  Works full time

  Has a non-spouse dependent

  Single parent

  Did not receive a standard high school diploma

The demographic profile of the United States profoundly affects higher education institutions.  According to Larry Goldstein’s text “College and University Budgeting”, changing demographics will affect different regions and types of institutions in different ways (2005).  Much has changed since 2005 and what could have been considered a “fad” by some turned into a demographic shift that was here to stay.   This trend has proven to prosper and show continual growth and in the end, trends bucks tradition.   Now over half of the student population is considered nontraditional by the NCES definition.  This majority, which stood at a meager 39 percent in 2000, was never predicted as sustainable.  By 2010, nontraditional students will decrease from 39 percent of the total to 37.5 percent (Goldstein, 2005).  This trend of an older student population needs to be met head-on.  Holly Johnson might have hit the nail on the head when she referenced this growing student population as the underserved majority.  Universities need to jump on board with this demographic shift and here are a few ways for them to do so.  

Sources:

Danly, E. (2014, September 15). More than half of college students now 'nontraditional' Retrieved November 18, 2015, from http://nakedlaw.avvo.com/education/trends-buck-tradition-half-college-students-now-nontraditional.html

Goldstein, L., & Meisinger, R. (2005). Chapter 2: The Economic and Political Environment. In College & university budgeting: An introduction for faculty and academic administrators (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NACUBO/National Association of College & University Business Officers.

Johnson, H. (2014, February 7). The rise of the non-traditional student. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.onlinedegrees.com/degree360/student-focus/non-traditional-students.html

Walton Radford, A., Cominole, M., & Skomsvold, P. (2015). Demographic and Enrollment Characteristics of Nontraditional Undergraduates: 2011–12. The US Department of Education, 1-76. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015025.pdf