Discussions of improving postsecondary outcomes and increasing educational attainment frequently refer to the changing character of the student body. It is easy to visualize “college students” as those who who graduate from high school, enroll full-time, and earn a college degree in the prescribed time frame. But many students – and a disproportionate number of those who never make it through – are older, enroll part-time, have dependents, attend two-year colleges. Unfortunately, efforts to call attention to this reality are too frequently combined with the claim the “traditional” student is an anachronism – that over time students have come less and less to look the way they did in the 1950s and the 1960s. Fewer and fewer students fit the stereotype, the argument goes, so designing policies focused on those rare (and privileged) few misses the point.
Is there really a long-term trend away from traditional college students? Let’s look at some simple data from the Digest of Education Statistics about fall enrollments over time.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Innovations - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Author:Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson
