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#10: Is it time to rethink the term nontraditional student?

[Editor’s note: This story, originally published on September 30th of this year, was our #10 most popular story of the year. The countdown continues tomorrow with #9, so be sure to check back!]

Should higher education rethink what makes a “traditional” student today? Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on students applying for financial aid highlight the ever-increasing need for colleges and universities to diversify their programs and make more available online education.

The data, culled from the most recent student financial aid information (2011-12), and discussed in the NCES brief [1], “Demographic and Enrollment Characteristics of Nontraditional Undergraduates,” examines prevailing characteristics in enrolling students, and argues that knowledge of these characteristics should further urge institutions to diversify their services.

The brief begins by differentiating traditional and nontraditional terms as researchers do, explaining that nontraditional students have the following characteristics:

“While undergraduates who possess these characteristics are often thought of as nontraditional, a large proportion of undergraduates have these characteristics,” state the brief’s authors (Dr. Alexandria Walton Radford, program director of Transition to College for RTI International; RTI Project Director, Melissa Cominole; and Paul Skomsvold education analyst III of RTI). According to NCES data, about 74 percent of all 2011-12 undergrads had at least one nontraditional characteristic.

It’s also a percentage that has remained either consistent, or on the rise, since 1995-96 when at least 70 percent of undergrads possessed at least one nontraditional characteristic.

“Examining nontraditional characteristics is important not only because a high percentage of postsecondary students possess them, but also because students with these characteristics can be vulnerable to challenges that can affect their well-being, levels of stress and satisfaction, and likelihood of persisting and attaining a degree,” notes the brief.

With so many students considered nontraditional by these research standards, not only could the definition of a traditional student be outdated, but technology-supported online programs, flexible degree programs, credentialing and badging, and the reinvention of the credit hour may help increase institutional enrollment and curb dropouts or transfers of these more at-risk students.

(Next page: What the data shows on the nontraditional student)

What the Data Shows

NCES’ brief pulls from Web Tables [2]of nationally representative data from the NCES Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) that provides statistics on nontraditional characteristics in U.S. undergraduates.

According to the brief, the estimates presented in these Web Tables are based on data from five administrations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS): NPSAS:96, NPSAS:2000, NPSAS:04, NPSAS:08, and NPSAS:12. “These studies, conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s NCES, are comprehensive, nationally representative surveys of how students finance their postsecondary education. NPSAS also includes a broad array of demographic and enrollment characteristics.”

Examining trends over time, the data shows the distribution of undergraduates by number of nontraditional characteristics possessed and specific nontraditional characteristics during multiple time periods. For U.S. students [excluding Puerto Rico] applying for financial aid between 2011-12):

The data further examines individual characteristics used to define nontraditional students by demographic and enrollment characteristics. Of the U.S. students applying for financial aid:

The data also documents various characteristics related to undergraduates’ academic preparation, postsecondary enrollment characteristics, participation in online courses and online degree program, type of degree program pursued and reasons for taking courses if not in a degree program, fields of study chosen by type of student, and more. The data reveals that of the U.S. students applying for financial aid:

For much more in-depth data and methodology used, as well as standard errors for each table, analytical explanations, and NCES resources, read the full brief here [1].