Student Development Theory and the Adult Learner

Most adult learners are not distracted from the pursuit of higher education by having to learn how to function on their own for the first time. Having been responsible to employer or family demands, the older student has an edge on the recent high school graduate toward succeeding in college.
At the same time, adult learners are easily marginalized by educational systems that are designed to suit the needs of traditional students. Imagine a re-entry student who is the head of a family filling out a FAFSA and being asked to report parent income or a part-time student with a full-time job being told to meet with a counselor during daytime work hours.
At the heart of counseling adult learners is sociologist Morris Rosenberg’s notion of mattering, which he defines as “a motive: the feeling that others depend on us, are interested in us, are concerned with orur fate, or experience us as an ego-extension” (Rosenberg and McCullough, 1981). When an adult learner is treated like a traditional-age student, he or she will likely feel a lack of mattering in the university community that will adversely affect goal fulfillment.
It is important for student service professionals to recognize the differences between adult learners and traditional-age students and to adjust their counseling accordingly. The first step to doing so is to understand the unique process that adult learners undergo through the re-entry process.

Schlossberg, Lynch, Chickering
Moving In --- Moving Through --- Moving On
Re-Entry Student return to school due to transitions taking place in life. These transitions can include having children, children leaving the home, retirement, divorce, marriage, and a desire to build on skills. The book Improving Higher Education Environments for Adults (1989) details a suggested approach for serving re-entry students at institutions of higher education. The educational process for re-entry students is described in stages: moving in, moving through and moving on.
In assessing an adult learner’s needs at any point in this process, it is important for student development professionals to understand the Four S’s: self, situation, supports and strategies. Self refers to the adult learner’s role concepts and life outside the classroom; Situation defines the external elements underlying the adult learner’s self such as family life, finance, career past and educational history; Supports refers to the assets an adult learner could potentially bring to bear in solving a problem (not that the learner may not be aware of all of these); and Strategies are the amalgamation of the self, situation and supports directed at an educational goal.
The three phases of the adult learner experience, as defined by Schlossberg, Lynch and Chickering, are as follows:

Moving In –
(What am I doing? Who will support me? Where do I fit in?)
Institutions must think of the entry process as an educational experience. Re-entry students are looking for information and support while making the decision to return to school. Potential students need information about financial aid, credit transfer, childcare, potential majors, registration, orientation, requirements for entry, etc.

Moving Through –
(“Now that I’m here, what do I do? Who can answer my questions?”)
Once a student is entrenched in the institution, their concerns and issues change. Most re-entry students are dealing with a need to cope with competing demands for time and energy, a desire to master new personal, professional, and academic skills, and the need to belong.
Educational institutions can provide many services to support continuing students by clustering educational services, providing a proactive learner support center or lounge, appropriate academic services, career counseling, co-curricular activities, residential services, family care and health services. Daloz suggests the idea of providing a developmental mentor, someone who can lead the adult learner through campus processes and provide the support and encouragement needed to fulfill educational goals. Brookfield recommends adult learner community building through creating of adult learner lounges or social centers, providing appropriately targeted extra-curricular activities and encouraging peer counseling.

Moving On –
(“I’m graduating. What do I do now?”)
The situations individuals face as they prepare to leave school vary, but most students could benefit from general life planning for avocation, vocation, and family roles. Many need help with career plans, strategies for implementing career plans, assessment of professional strengths, job placement and reflective support. The institution through a re-entry student center could provide all of these services while considering the special needs of adult learners such as age discrimination and the need to incorporate former experience in career decisions.