Mid- and Later-life Community College Students: “Off-time” Education and the Significance of Intracohort Diversity

ABSTRACTThrough a gerontological lens, using grounded theory methods and both qualitative and quantitative data, we investigated the “off-time” enrollment of mid- and later-life (MLL) community college students (age 40+) to explore how their enrollment decisions and academic goals are situated in the timing and intersection of life events and transitions, such as the responsibilities of work and family. We conducted twelve focus group interviews with MLL community college students (n = 68) in Ohio and conducted a quantitative analysis of the distribution of academic goals by age group in Ohio’s 23 community colleges. We conclude that the foremost characteristic of MLL students as a group is its within-group heterogeneity and argue that the greatest barrier to serving MLL students is in how we have been thinking – or failing to think – about them. We take a first slice at disaggregating “adult” students and turn away from deficit narratives to identify opportunities and assets among MLLs. Finally, we offer a theory to explain how especially wide within-group diversity of MLL academic goals is produced by cohort divergence of life events, transitions and trajectories; diverse enrollment precipitants; and individual point-of-time appraisals of lifetime elapsed and lifetime remaining. We suggest that community colleges, already leaders in adult education, are in a unique position to effectively serve MLL students by recognizing and accommodating their diversity. We present implications and strategies for colleges, policymakers and researchers based on our findings.