College Students Aren’t Who You Think They Are
When you think of the term “college-aged,” what number comes to mind? If it’s somewhere in the 18- to 24-year-old range, you’re not wrong. But you’re not entirely right, either.
While the typical college student persona in the popular imagination is a recent high school graduate, research reveals a different story. 37 percent of college students are 25 years old or older. 64 percent of college students work, with 40 percent of them working full-time. Just under half of college students are financially independent from their parents.
Just as the demographics of the modern college student vary beyond the just-graduated, letter-jacket-donning teenager, so are the needs of these diverse populations. While colleges and universities will always be called upon to meet the needs of their students who just left home and live in the residence halls, higher education institutions that want to remain competitive in the years to come must address the needs of adult learners as well.
In order to design and market programs and services that meet the needs of adult learners, colleges and universities must be strategic in areas like flexibility and career compatibility.
Flexibility
Classes held in-person, on campus, and during the day are a great fit for many college students. But for adult learners, many of whom have full-time jobs, a program that relies on coursework during traditional work hours is a non-starter.
Adult learners need colleges and universities to take a creative approach in their course design and marketing. By offering classes at night, online, and with rolling intakes, for example, higher education institutions can make it clear to prospective students that they understand and value the daily lives of working professionals.
Work isn’t the only consideration for adult learners, either. According to the Lumina Foundation, 24 percent of today’s college students have children or other dependents, which means their personal lives have obligations and time constraints. Demonstrating an understanding of the demands in the adult learner’s life is imperative for colleges and universities that want to attract this growing population. Do your faculty mentors have virtual office hours late in the evenings? Do your online programs foster high student-to-student engagement without requiring online attendance at a certain time? Make it plain in your marketing!
Career Compatibility
When it comes to attracting, enrolling, and retaining adult learners, considering their career goals is imperative. Career advancement or career change tend to motivate many adult learners, so matching college programs to practical jobs and paths is a must.
Consider how the programs at your institution can correlate to in-demand careers. Do your marketing campaigns make clear that your nursing program has a sky-high job placement rate or that your post-graduate programs in education send graduates on a path to leadership roles?
If the programs are in place but the marketing efforts don’t match up, consider how your institution might feature statistics or case studies of graduates that highlight the effectiveness of your school’s program in relation to career success. For schools that haven’t yet modified existing programs or created new programs for adult learners, take the opportunity both to build programs and to design marketing strategies that address their needs.
Relevance is Required
Adult learners are eager for higher education institutions to meet their needs. And it’s an increasingly competitive environment. But by focusing academic programs and marketing campaigns on factors that are meaningful to the unique needs of older students, your institution can thrive with this non-traditional student population.
Could you use a fresh perspective on your enrollment marketing efforts? Let’s talk about how 5° Branding can help.
