Supporting Postsecondary Enrollment for Adult Learners of Color

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This study aimed to help leaders at postsecondary institutions design programs in ways that support the needs, strengths, and interests of Black, Hispanic, and Native American adult learners. The focus was on understanding the college re(enrollment) decisionmaking processes of adult learners of color, including whether and how educational and training program models factor into their enrollment decisions.
 

Study Results

Understanding the decision-making process of adult learners of color is crucial for institutions to create and implement effective recruitment and support strategies. 

• Adult learners of color can consider enrolling for an extended period of time before making an enrollment decision. Their decision-making is often about whether and when to attend—considerations that can take a long time—rather than choosing where to attend at any specific moment. Critically, institutions do not “see” these periods, until or unless an adult learner reaches out.
• Many of their top concerns, questions, and preferences center on whether they can make college “work” in their lives—financially, logistically, and socially. These findings highlight the role of information, particularly the timing of that information: many adult learners described not learning about key information related to program models prior to enrolling, unless they found a specialized program that was designed and marketed specifically for adult learners (often including emphases of flexibility or predictability, as well as modalities).

It’s also important to understand other factors shaping their decisions and perceptions, which may influence outreach channels and opportunities.

• Learners’ ecosystems shape the information and encouragement they receive, playing a critical role in their extended decision-making process. “Information brokers,” in particular, are an important resource throughout their journeys.
• Many adult learners may have adverse prior experiences with postsecondary education or might have received negative messages from K–12 teachers or counselors about whether they were “college material.” These experiences shape whether they think college is “for” them and whether they will feel welcomed.

Finally, their decision process doesn’t end with enrollment—it continues even when they’ve chosen and started attending college. This decision-making process extends through to degree completion; even when they have built momentum, (re)enrolling each term can feel like a new active decision, rather than a default choice—affecting retention and stopout decisions by adults. 
 

Final Report

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“Can I Make This Work with My Life?” Exploring the College (Re)Enrollment Decisions of Adult Learners of Color explored the college-going decision-making experiences of adult learners of color in postsecondary education. Rather than study the specific point in time at which they decided to enroll, this report focuses on the continual decisionmaking process that adult learners engage in throughout their educational journey, summarizing takeaways from interviews and surveys with adult learners of color about their (re)enrollment decisionmaking processes and influences. It includes key themes as well as a series of takeaways and implications for institutions interested in better recruiting, engaging, and supporting adult learners of color.  
 

Research Brief

Exploring the College (Re)Enrollment Decisions among Adult Learners of Color - Using the Iloh Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories to Understand the Role of Ecosystems and Shaping Experiences summarizes takeaways from narrative interviews with adult learners of color, using the Iloh Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories to explore deeply the roles of “ecosystems” or influencers for adult learners, as well as the role of early-in-life shaping experiences. The brief provides context for researchers and institutional leaders interested in better understanding decisionmaking processes as well as the factors that might shape these learners’ interests and questions when considering postsecondary education. 

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More than 82 million adults 25 years old and over have never enrolled in any postsecondary education, and another 43.1 million adults have some college credits, but no credential. Black, Hispanic, and Native American adults are disproportionately represented in both of these categories. But the fundamental structures and practices of colleges were not built with adult learners in mind, and particularly not adult learners of color.

A key takeaway from our previous project is that adult learners experience their institutions in a holistic manner. That is, although individual programs or supports may be helpful to them at a point in time, their overall experience at the institution is critical to their sense of belonging and confidence, as well as their experience navigating the college and successfully making enrollment “work with their lives.” 

But a common barrier to better supporting the overall experience and success of adult learners of color is institution-wide motivation and capacity for advancing institutional change and implementing these practices. Activating institution-wide changes requires multiple units and divisions changing together, making changes to business process, systems, and curricula. To support institutions in making these institution-wide changes, AIR, with support from Lumina Foundation, conducted research on factors that contribute to, or hinder, successful implementation—what worked for institutions, why, and how that varies by institutional contexts.
 

Study Results

This study shed light on the motivations, challenges, and successes of the strategies and practices used by a set of postsecondary institutions that have enacted institutional change in support of adult learners of color. A common thread among these institutions is their commitment to understanding their learners’ experiences, which drove their institutional change efforts. These journeys toward better supporting adult learners are deeply rooted in an understanding of the communities they serve and a desire to advance their institutional missions. Key findings include:

• Community-Driven Transformation: Institutions engaged local employers, community members, and adult learners to shape change efforts—often guided by access-focused missions or MSI designations.
• Structural Shifts: Changes ranged from adding student support roles to launching centralized offices for adult learner services and reorganizing departments to improve collaboration.
• Process Improvements: Institutions invested in staff development around data use, cultural competence, and adult learning practices, fostering a more data-informed, learner-centered culture.
• Cultural Change: By using data and storytelling, institutions built internal champions and scaled successful pilot programs to drive broader campus-wide change.
   

Final Report

Institutional Change for Adult Learner Success: Lessons Learned from Postsecondary Education Institutions investigates how a set of public 2-year and 4-year institutions transformed over time to align practices, policies, resources, and structures to better serve adult learners. 
 

Toolkit for Enacting Institutional Change

Supporting Adult Learners in Postsecondary Education: A Toolkit for Implementing Key Promising Practices draws on key findings from the study, translating research findings that staff at postsecondary institutions can take as part of their journeys to increase enrollment and improve access.

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More than 82 million adults 25 years old and over have never enrolled in any postsecondary education, and another 40.4 million adults have some college credits, but no credential. In particular, Black, Hispanic, and Native American adults are disproportionately represented in both of these categories. 

This study focused on how adult learners of color make decisions about (re)enrollment in postsecondary institutions. Our previous study emphasized the role the “ecosystem”—the communities that support and are supported by adult learners of color—played in adult learners’ decisionmaking, which led to exploring the key role they play in their decisions about (re)enrollment in college. We aimed to broaden our understanding of the role that adult learner ecosystems play in decisionmaking, which can help institutions expand and improve outreach efforts by engaging both learners and their ecosystems. 
 

Study Results

Our analysis explores who makes up a learner’s ecosystem; their influence on learner decisions; and the sentiments, opinions, and/or support they shared with the learners during the period leading up to the enrollment decision. For adult learners opting to (re)enroll in college, we found that, for nearly all of them, their ecosystems, or close networks of trusted individuals, played influential roles. These ecosystems typically shared some common characteristics:

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• Adult learners’ ecosystems were made up of trusted individuals from backgrounds similar to the learners’ and had relevant experiences to share.
• Adult learners found their ecosystem members influential in their decisions to (re)enroll.
• Ecosystems support for learners took two forms: mindset-oriented support, like motivation and encouragement, or capacity-oriented support, like sharing information or resources to make (re)enrolling easier.
   

Final Report

Trusted Networks: Understanding How People Influence Adult Learner (Re)Enrollment Decisions shares key findings about the role of adult learners’ ecosystems in influencing and supporting their decisions about (re)enrolling in college. For a summary of key findings, view our infographic.