Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL)

Labels Matter: Reframing and Valuing Non-Traditional Adult Learners in Community Colleges

By Debra D. Bragg, OCCRL Founding Director

Introduction

Labels matter; some, like "non-traditional,” carry unintended consequences. For decades, adult learners, referring to individuals aged 25 and older who are central to community college education, are considered "non-traditional.” Initially a convenient descriptor, the label tends to marginalize adult learners by defining them in contrast to a presumed ideal: the recent high school graduate who lives on campus and attends classes full-time. This framing dampens appreciation for the diverse pathways that adult learners pursue by upholding a hierarchy that privileges one student profile over others. Challenging this label is more than semantics—it is about reframing and valuing the educational journeys of adults.

OCCRL's Commitment to Adult Learners

The Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) has long focused on adult learners through Shifting Gears, Pathways to Results, Equity Conscious Community College Pathways, Program Review Illinois, and many more research and development initiatives involving community colleges across Illinois and the nation. The office’s new Adult Learner Guidebook (2025) offers evidence-based strategies to bolster the success of adult learners in community colleges.

Applying research-informed lessons to help more adults achieve a college credential has been the state's critical and elusive goal. Using data from Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), OCCRL researchers found that over 70% of Black adults and over 80% of Latine adults leave college without earning a degree. The economic consequences of not obtaining a college certificate or degree are real for these students. OCCRL’s Adult Learner Guidebook offers evidence-based strategies to bolster the success of college-going adult learners in the state  (OCCRL, 2025).

Hit hard by enrollment declines during COVID-19, adult participation in Illinois community college credit courses has increased 7% since the pandemic, from 405,444 in FY 2021 to 435,426 in FY 2024. Nearly 150,000 adults pursue academic transfer, career-technical education (CTE), and general studies annually, accounting for roughly one-third of the state’s total community college credit enrollment. Adding programs dedicated to adults without a high school diploma,[1] the number of adults enrolled in Illinois community colleges increases to 175,000, not including non-credit community college courses that enroll an even higher proportion of adults. The takeaway is clear: adults are integral to community college education. Far from “non-traditional,” they are a mainstay of community college education.

Reframing Adult Learners

Our understanding of how adults learn has evolved over many years. Early theorists distinguished andragogy from pedagogy, arguing that adults acquire and apply new knowledge in ways children cannot, given their modest life experiences (Knowles, 1980, 1984). Therefore, adult learning is less bounded by formal structures and more connected to a wide range of life endeavors (Moodie et al., 2023). The word “capabilities” recognizes that learning, behaving, and achieving continue to evolve as adults experience life, enabling them to test what they already know against what they desire to know and do.

Adult learning theories also emphasize collective social and cultural contexts that promote the application of knowledge. Culturally responsive andragogy integrates adult learning principles and culturally responsive teaching into a comprehensive theory of adult education outcomes (Livingston-Gallaway & George, 2020). This asset-based framing legitimizes adults, helping reduce biases that position these students as less than ideal.  

The community cultural wealth (CCW) model complements culturally responsive andragogy by identifying aspirational, familial, social, navigational, and other forms of capital that contribute to adult learning (Yosso, 2005). Validating adults as legitimate and capable learners helps them surmount educational barriers and transform their lives. This model also aligns closely with adult transformative learning theory, which advocates for adults to use critical reflection to draw on their accumulated knowledge and experience to make life-changing decisions. Helping adults see how beliefs shape who they are and what they do, they can envision new possibilities (Imel, 1998; Mezirow, 2000).

The Interview Study

Who are adult learners who enroll in community colleges, and what motivates them to participate? How do they engage in learning, and how do they think higher learning will improve their lives? What changes do they make because of obtaining a college degree? To address these questions, this article briefly describes a study focusing on adult learners participating in Washington state's community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs. Washington is one of 24 states that allows at least one community college to confer bachelor’s degrees (Bragg, 2025), and one of only a few states where all community and technical colleges (34 in this case) confer CCB degrees (Meza & Bragg, 2025). Given these programs' prevalence and their intentional focus on adult learners, this study selected a sample of adults pursuing CCB degrees in three rural communities with limited access to higher education. Giving voice to rural adults also helped fill a gap in the CCB degree literature (Love, 2025; Love & Thai, 2024).

This study used qualitative interviews with 13 adults enrolled in or who had graduated from a CCB degree program in Washington (Meza & Bragg, 2025). All these students chose to pursue a bachelor’s degree because of their familiarity and comfort with their local community college, often having already earned an associate's degree there. Attendance at the community college was facilitated by a reasonable commuting distance from home to school and work, the lower cost of attendance compared to a university bachelor’s degree, the promise of improved employment and wages, and convenient program design. These students came from diverse backgrounds and identified wide-ranging goals, with 10 enrolling in applied management, two studying behavioral health, and one majoring in education. Their collective profile follows:

• All worked while participating in their CCB degree program; 11 worked full time
• All received federal financial aid and a few took loans, but most covered the cost of their CCB degree personally
• Eleven had graduated with their CCB degree, with two nearing completion at the time of the study
• Eleven identified as first-generation college learners
• Ten were parents, with some having extended family caretaking duties
• Seven identified as female, six as male
• Four identified as Hispanic, with the remainder identifying as white
• Two were military veterans

Findings

The adult learners we studied appreciated that CCB programs capitalized on their accumulated knowledge (gained through formal and informal means), past and present employment, and other life experiences in the rural context. Most thought a CCB degree would improve their lives by opening doors to careers offering greater economic security. Many also set personal goals for themselves, including giving back to their communities through public service. Most expressed gratitude for CCB degree programs, with some expressing views of themselves and their presence in higher education as outside the norm.

The Rural Context

All 13 adults told stories about how their upbringing shaped their college aspirations. The students held limited expectations to get a bachelor’s degree except for a couple. Many factors contributed, but one tangible fact is most students live many miles from a university. For CCB participants at one college, the nearest public university is 26 miles (a 31-minute drive time) away. At the second college, students would have to make a 54-mile commute (a 54-minute drive time) to get to the closest public university. The distance to the third college is even farther. Located on a peninsula, students in this area commute over 80 miles, which requires a three-hour commute to the nearest public university. For all students, but especially those attending the last college, geography played a major role in their decision to pursue a CCB degree.

Moreover, most students had spent most of their lives in the rural regions where they were pursuing bachelor's degrees. They were born and raised in rural communities and reticent to leave to pursue college. One reason for their rootedness in rural communities was their desire to live, work, and contribute to local economies by preparing for a job that could provide higher pay and greater stability. Knowing good jobs can be rare in rural areas, the students’ career aspirations seemed fixed by the jobs they thought they could get. They were not deterred, but they were realistic about their future. The theory of “bounded aspirations” (Means et al., 2016, p. 1) helps explain how the decisions these learners made to pursue a CCB degree were deeply contextualized by who they are, where they live and what they believe their lives can be.

Women's Learning Experiences

Seven women participated in the study, five majoring in applied business, one in behavioral health, and one in education. Six had children before or during their time in the CCB program, and many helped their families with transportation, meal preparation, and other caregiving activities. These women understated the complexity of their lives, consistently overlooking the multitasking required to keep a family and household running smoothly while going to college. Two of these students are profiled below to provide a picture of the group’s journeys to and through college.

The first female graduate was in her early 30s when she entered the community colleges first bachelor of applied science (BAS) program in applied management, having earlier completed an associate’s degree at the same college. She considered several majors, including nursing, but ultimately chose a bachelor’s program in public safety where she already worked as a firefighter. Grateful that her classes included other residents with similar interests in raising families in the area, she liked the idea of being a part of a new bachelor’s degree offered by a college in her region of the state. She linked the programs “newness” to “making a change” in her life that would benefit her community. Her passion for learning didn't stop with the bachelor’s degree as she went on to get a master’s degree from an online graduate program, attributing both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees with bolstering her chances for a promotion to a senior leadership role in emergency management services. Noting men dominate public safety jobs in the region, she explained, “Women tend to have to fight for it more, and I wanted to be that change. I wanted to be someone who people look at for help and assistance… [and] there has never been a female in this role.” This graduate’s commitment to applying lessons from her CCB program to a career is also reflected in the stories of other females, including the following graduate.

The second female credited the CCB program in education with preparing her for teaching after having spent many years working as a paraprofessional. Experiencing a traumatic childhood and dropping out of high school, she eventually received her completion diploma from the same college where she obtained her bachelor’s degree. Seeing the benefits of pursuing a formal teaching career, she says she encourages “people around me who haven't [enrolled], or who are kind of on the fence about getting their teaching certificate… I'm like, ‘Why would you not want to do that?’ You have a great opportunity to visit classrooms and network with others. You can go in and you will meet the principals of these schools and then someday you'll be able to apply for jobs and they will remember you. You can leave an impression on them.” Reflecting on the value of her bachelor’s degree, she observed, “I've flourished and grown in amazing ways,” including a promotion to special education director for a neighboring school district. Another major benefit of her bachelor’s degree was a pay raise that she called a “huge jump for our family,” nearly tripling her pay as a paraprofessional. Looking to the future, she anticipates the need to pursue a master’s degree and hopes a CCB program will be offered in the area, where she says other CCB graduates in the region would want to participate

Hispanic Learners

Four Hispanic learners, two men and two women, participated in the bachelor’s programs at two rural community colleges. Excelencia in Education (2025) recognizes one of these schools as an emerging Hispanic-serving institution (HSI), with nearly 25% of the overall student population identifying as Hispanic. All four Hispanic students interviewed for this study linked their decision to enroll in the CCB program to their familial, cultural, and economic circumstances, including challenges but also resilience as first-generation adult learners navigating systems not originally designed with them in mind. The following two stories illuminate the experiences of Hispanic students enrolled in CCB degree programs.

The first male student was a first-generation Mexican American who grew up in a family where poverty limited educational opportunities. His parents immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. in the 1980s, with his father leaving formal schooling in third grade and his mother in sixth. He described his early life as “poverty like you wouldn’t believe.” Despite being an outstanding student growing up, he didn’t know if college was for him, observing, “Even if I was pulling As, which I was, I still didn’t feel like this is the thing for me because it hasn’t been shown to me.” However, he eventually chose to attend the local community college to pursue an associate’s degree and, during his time on campus, learned the college would launch a bachelor's program. With his employer's support, he applied and qualified for Pell grants that allowed him to return to college full time with adjusted work hours. Flourishing in the program, he received summa cum laude honors that launched a professional career in the agriculture industry. He also decided to pursue public service by serving on the city council. Reflecting on how his thinking evolved through college, he observed he now values disagreement and debate, saying, “It’s not normal to always be in agreeance… it was really healthy to [have] someone having a counterpoint to my idea.” His engagement with classmates from different backgrounds and perspectives helped prepare him for public service and professional work with diverse populations. Hoping to advance further in his career, he applied and was accepted to a graduate program in the state. However, he worried that he could not afford to attend, reinforcing a cost barrier to college that continues beyond the baccalaureate.

A female Hispanic student’s decision to enroll in a CCB program was shaped by personal adversity, the need for a flexible program option, and a desire to serve others. Raised across the street from where she eventually earned her bachelor’s degree, this student decided to emancipate from her family, where she experienced a traumatic childhood. She excelled in high school honors classes and extracurricular activities but couldn’t envision attending college, so she took a full-time restaurant manager job. She did well at work that provided a comfortable wage to support herself and her child, and she expected to advance in this career until COVID-19 hit. Suddenly out of a job and uncertain about her future, she decided to enroll in the community college to pursue a bachelor’s degree, a goal she admitted to having since high school. Starting in an associate’s program in early childhood education, she ultimately enrolled in the college’s new behavioral health (BH) bachelor’s program. Having experienced a painful childhood, behavioral health is important to her, and the program offered a network. Impressed by her performance in the bachelor’s program, college leaders offered her a full-time position as a resource specialist. Reflecting on how her growth as an advocate for youth with housing and food insecurities has grown, she noted, “I am much more vocal about my achievements now that I have my bachelor's degree.” She was proud of how the lessons her journey had taught her were helping to transform the lives of others in the region.

Learning to Build Social Capital

The adult learners in this study appreciated that CCB programs were custom-designed to meet their needs and advance their assets, including recognizing the kinds of instructional strategies and support services that would make getting a bachelor’s degree possible. The diversity of adult learners and learning preferences were also valued, with some students appreciating opportunities to self-direct their learning through study groups and other collaborative activities. Online and hybrid courses that enabled students to balance school, work, and home life were valued, but some preferred intermix online and on-campus classes. These students felt they benefited when they and others were physically present to experience the learning process. They benefited from discussion and debate that was less present in the online format.

All students benefited from the relationships and social capital they experienced during the program. Internal to the CCB program, all students valued structured cohorts that enabled them to get to know other classmates very well, with some seeing their classmates as “family.” Through these shared relationships, the students could also grow their networks in ways that produced more career opportunities. Deep appreciation was expressed for faculty, advisors, and other college personnel, as well as family and friends who enable the students to engage and achieve success in college and beyond school. A few students said the relationships they built with other students in their CCB program cohort increased their motivation to complete the program, with a few students attributing group projects with elevating self-confidence and self-determination to reach their goals. One graduate said she puts lessons learned in persevering in the program into practice in her professional and personal life.

Adult Transformative Learning

Looking at the entire group of adult learners, numerous examples of transformative learning depend on relationship-building and collaborative learning. Growth was seen in many areas, but one that was not expected was growth in personal and professional leadership. Several students spoke about strengthening their sense of self-efficacy through engaging in critical reflection and problem-solving, and they saw how they could transfer these abilities to work, home, and life settings. In fact, seven students talked about how leadership development had been an unexpected yet significant benefit of the CCB degree, recognizing that advancement in any aspect of life requires leadership capabilities.

Linking leadership development to social justice, one graduate said her understanding of “equity, power and bias” had grown substantially through the CCB program. She had not thought deeply about what these concepts mean for herself until she enrolled in the bachelor’s program, and she is immersed in learning on her own. Another graduate gave insights into instructors advocating for students in the program to put their knowledge and skills to work in public service that could benefit their communities.

Valuing Adult Learners in Community Colleges

The 13 students who were interviewed in this study spoke about how their CCB programs had transformed their lives. They were proud of their career advancements and their heightened engagement in public service in their communities. Many students overcame financial, personal, and academic challenges to complete their degrees, demonstrating resilience and determination to improve their lives. These accomplishments are significant for these students, but not unlike the lives of many community college students. These adult learners are not peripheral to community colleges; they are central to the mission and impact they seek to achieve for all learners.

Knowing what these students have achieved, this study reinforces the need to reject deficit-oriented labels such as “non-traditional.” It is time to recognize adults as knowledgeable, capable, and deserving of opportunities to pursue education without using labels. Adult learners need and deserve more opportunities to learn and grow, as CCB degrees in Washington state demonstrate. Model programs built on more accessible and inclusive higher education systems are needed nationwide to ensure transformative learning becomes a reality for more adults.

References

Bragg, D. D. (2025). What it takes to get a community college bachelor’s program approved. https://www.accbd.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bragg-2025.-What-It-Takes-to-Get-Community-College-Bachelors-Degree-Programs-Approved.pdf 

Excelencia in Education. (2025). Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (eHSIs): 2023-24. Washington, D.C.: Excelencia in Education. https://www.edexcelencia.org/research/publications/emerging-hispanic-serving-institutions-ehsis 

Knowles, M. S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL; Follet.

Knowles, M. S. (1984). The adult learner: A neglected species (3rd ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.

Illinois Board of Higher Education. (n.d.). Enrollment and degree data tool. https://enrollmentsdegrees.ibhe.org/ 

Imel, S. (1998). Transformative learning in adulthood, ERIC Digest No. 200. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED423426.pdf 

Livingston-Galloway, M. P., & George, J. (2020). A theoretical perspective of culturally responsive andragogy for international English learners in American higher education institutions. The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education, 10(1), 34-52.

Love, I. (2025). A policy and practice guide to support bachelor’s programs in rural community colleges. https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/briefs/building-opportunity-locally/

Love, I., & Thai, T. (20240. The challenges and benefits of pursuing bachelor’s programs at rural-serving community colleges. https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/briefs/the-challenges-and-benefits-of-pursuing-bachelors-programs-at-rural-serving-community-colleges/

Means, D. R., Clayton, A. B., Conzelmann, J. G., Baynes, P., & Umbach, P. (2016). Bounded aspirations: Rural, African American high school students and college access. The Review of Higher Education, 39(4), pp. 543.569.

Meza, E., Bragg, D. (2025). Washington’s community college baccalaureate degrees: Growth and outcomes, 2024 Update. University of Washington.   https://evans.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Final-SBCTC-Report-2025.pdf 

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Moodie, G., Wheelahan, L., & Bragg, D. D. (2023, Fall). Toward capabilities for adult working learners in Canada and the United States. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 179, 17-26.

Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL). (2025). Adult learner guidebook. https://occrl.illinois.edu/our-products/adult-learner-guidebook 

Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), pp. 69–91.

The Author:

Debra D. Bragg is the founding director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) and a Gutgsell endowed professor emerita at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Acknowledgments:

Special thanks to all the community college practitioners and students who participated in this study. Thanks also to Dr. Elizabeth Meza at the University of Washington and colleagues at the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), who funded and supported this research. Dr. Meza's shared interest in hearing the voices of adult learners who make up the vast majority of CCB students was instrumental in carrying out this study.

Note: This paper uses the term Hispanic to align with terminology used by Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classification of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI). Both students profiled in this study identify as Mexican Americans.