The pandemic forced individuals and the world at large to reevaluate facets of everyday life that had become status quo. Higher education was no exception to this personal and systemic scrutiny.
Many traditional-age college students—those between the ages of 18 and 22—began opting for alternative pathways, such as trade programs or the freedom from student loan debt provided by joining the workforce right away. For other groups, particularly nontraditional-age students, the pandemic catalyzed important changes in the world of higher education.
Nontraditional college students are typically characterized by age—being under 18 or over 24. The most recent Census data revealed that between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. population grew at its slowest rate since the 1930s. With the U.S. facing an aging population and approaching an enrollment cliff, colleges and universities are finding new ways to cater to nontraditional students.
Community colleges are recruiting a wider array of high school students for dual enrollment, with a particular emphasis on underserved groups. Traditional four-year colleges are launching career transition and skills development programs to assist adults with workforce experience in addition to young people looking to begin their careers.
Community colleges make up the lion’s share of nontraditional student enrollment—which has been the case since at least 2015. And while enrollment since that time has nearly halved, community colleges retain nearly threefold the number of new nontraditional students each year than public four-year institutions.
In order to gauge the impact of the pandemic on students of nontraditional age, Best Universities used data from the National Student Clearinghouse Center to look at enrollment of nontraditional age students in fall 2022 compared to fall 2020, the first full pandemic academic year.
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