{"id":30978,"date":"2019-03-07T11:01:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T16:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=30978"},"modified":"2021-04-27T09:01:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T13:01:41","slug":"common-stereotypes-dont-fit-todays-college-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/common-stereotypes-dont-fit-todays-college-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Stereotypes Don\u2019t Fit Today\u2019s College Student"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When envisioning the typical college student, people may see a 20-year-old fumbling books while walking through a library, or maybe — if they have seen the movie \u201cAnimal House\u201d too many times — they think of partygoers decked out in togas.
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Who they wouldn\u2019t picture, however, is a 30-year-old mom of two or a 28-year-old ex-marine.
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But the college population is more diverse than most people assume, and non-traditional students are becoming increasingly common.
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\u201cIf anything, adult students are becoming the norm on many of our campuses — especially those with online options,\u201d Jennifer Varney<\/a>, the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty at Southern New Hampshire University, said.
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But that isn\u2019t the image universities or Hollywood wants to publicize. They depict college students as young adults who are fresh out of high school — eager to learn and party.
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But in reality, 18-to 21-year-olds only make up a third of the college population<\/a>, and 40 percent <\/a>of today\u2019s undergrads are over 25 years old.
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Sometimes, young people have aspirations to go to college, but can\u2019t afford to enroll immediately after high school. So instead, they start working or join the military and, occasionally, start a family.
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Other times, students start college when they are 18 but drop out, either because they are struggling academically, feel overwhelmed by the experience, or can\u2019t afford to stay enrolled.
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Take Anna Hedges, a junior creative media industries major at Texas Tech University, for example.
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After dropping out of college after two semesters in 2012, she is back in college pursuing her degree, according to the Daily Toreador<\/a>.
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But this time, as an adult, she has many more responsibilities that are making the process of earning her degree more difficult.
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\u201cI don\u2019t have time for this level of work and to also be an adult because I\u2019m responsible for rent,\u201d Hedges told the Daily Toreador. \u201cI have a serious relationship that requires time and attention. I also have my own interests as an adult that have developed over this time that wasn\u2019t school that I have to pursue.\u201d
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Like Hedges, many non-traditional students face the challenge of mixing college with work, family and other obligations.
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Advisers responsible for guiding students through college also have to recognize these barriers.
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\u201cWe cannot expect students to put school ahead of family, work and even some other obligations, so we need to help them figure out how it can fit into their lives in a way that is sustainable,\u201d Varney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, because non-traditional students spend significant time away from academia, they often have a hard time adjusting to school.  
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\u201cSome learners may have had negative experiences in high school and bring that with them to higher education pursuits, while others may not have written a paper in many years and not heard of APA formatting,\u201d Varney said. \u201cIt may take students some time to bring themselves back into the mindset of being in school.\u201d
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For non-traditional students to feel comfortable in college, they need support from their peers and their school.
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\u201cThere is a lot of research regarding the value of peer-to-peer learning and peer mentoring and tutoring,\u201d Varney said. \u201cStudents may be intimidated to ask instructors for help or share their questions in front of the entire class, and working with a peer is often a position of less vulnerability.\u201d
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Colleges and universities can encourage this much-needed peer support by providing students with opportunities to engage with their fellow students, either in person or virtually, Varney explained.
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\u201cAnother thing that institutions can do to support their adult learners is to keep in mind that they arrive having many other priorities and build flexibility into the \u2018system\u2019 wherever possible,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When envisioning the typical college student, people may see a 20-year-old fumbling books while walking through a library, or maybe — if they have seen the movie \u201cAnimal House\u201d too many times — they think of partygoers decked out in togas. Who they wouldn\u2019t picture, however, is a 30-year-old mom of two or a 28-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":30980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[661,231,645,688,230,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ace-college","category-campus-news","category-discourse","category-discourse-ace-college","category-news","category-lead-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jackson Schroeder","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/jackson-schroeder\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"When envisioning the typical college student, people may see a 20-year-old fumbling books while walking through a library, or maybe — if they have seen the movie \u201cAnimal House\u201d too many times — they think of partygoers decked out in togas. Who they wouldn\u2019t picture, however, is a 30-year-old mom of two or a 28-year-old…","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/university-diversity.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}