Dec. 20—The traditional college life is oriented around 18- to 24-year-olds. Dorm living, all-night study sessions and student clubs are all designed for a youthful student body.
But at the University of Southern Maine, 28% of undergraduate students don’t fit that mold. They’re 25 and older, many are parents and most work full-time jobs outside of school. So the university created a new hub called the Adult Student Success Center to support those needs.
“The assumption was that adult students are busy, which is true, but that they just want to fly into campus, get their degree and leave,” said Gina Capra, USM’s adult student success coordinator. “And what I’m hearing is they want a college experience, they just want it to work around their schedules, the demands of their lives, and for there to be activities they might actually be interested in attending that aren’t geared toward 18- and 19-year-olds.”
Adult students are defined as undergraduates older than 24. Capra said the oldest current student is 91. The center also serves 18-24 year-olds with specific circumstances, like those who are parents or caretakers, emancipated from family, or who recently aged out of the foster care system.
The University of Maine System, of which USM is a part, set aside $250,000 in 2023 and $212,000 in 2024 specifically to support adult degree completion at undergraduate universities. USM isn’t unique among the system in having a large adult student population: that number is as high as 69% at the University of Maine at Presque Isle thanks to an online program geared toward older students. Across the system, 31% of undergraduates are over 24.
Capra opened the new center on the third floor of the Glickman Family Library on the Portland campus last month. The space has work tables, couches, a snack spread and an elaborate coffee station that students can use any time. There are toys and resources for children, and a food pantry with canned goods and toiletries. Capra wants the center to feel like a cozy study spot and a place to meet other students with non-traditional backgrounds.
“A couple of different students have said to me, ‘I’m from this area, I’m well connected, I have a whole social group here, but not a single person I know is in college, and that feels really isolating. So I would love to know people that are my age that are going to school,'” Capra said.
Social events at the center include a weekly craft and knitting group, intercultural mixers and yoga. Next year, Capra is planning to launch groups for students who are parents, and students 65 and up.
But there are also academic and logistical challenges. Adult students often began their education a long time ago and are resuming school as adults, so they have complicated transcripts that predate current systems, Capra said. Sometimes they aren’t familiar with changes to higher education, like online courses, virtual submission platforms and email. Capra spends a lot of time auditing transcript history, and connecting students with services.
And then there’s the schedules. Because adult students are often parents, or have full-time jobs, finding an accommodating class schedule or time to study is a major barrier. The center hosted a preparation event for finals week where students brought their study materials and planners and talked with counselors about scheduling their studying and finding academic resources during finals. Capra said 25 students attended.
There are also structural problems for adult students, like the standard timing of required courses that might conflict with the schedule of some full-time employees.
“So a lot of what I do is advocate, because I’m the one working with the students and hearing what is and isn’t working well,” Capra said. “So I can elevate that to the rest of the university to try to make some changes.”
Ellie McGee, 25, is an adult undergraduate who also works in the center as an adult student ambassador. McGee started college years ago at a different university but only took about 50 credits before leaving school. Now, they’re back studying social and behavioral sciences and planning to get a fast-track counseling master’s at USM.
“I felt really nervous about returning to school because I hadn’t been in so long. I dropped out of my old school right before COVID hit so I had no idea how much things had changed since then,” McGee said. “I was nervous coming back to a space that felt like it could be really different.”
McGee chose USM because of the high rate of adult students, and said the center has been great for getting organized for finals and feeling like a part of the USM community.
Just outside the center on Monday, Kevin McQuinn, 65, worked on a laptop next to a dense art history textbook. McQuinn is certainly a different type of adult student; he is returning after 40 years away from school. When he enrolled this fall, lots of things were confusing, like library resources and digital transcripts. But he got an email from Capra shortly after arrival, offering to meet and explain different campus resources.
“Being overwhelmed with a lot of things, it was just good to be able to come in, sit down and talk about, ‘Hey, what’s the deal? What do you know? Who should I talk to next?'” McQuinn said.
He said Capra set him up with research and writing tutors, and technological assistance.
Maine residents 65 and older seeking a bachelor’s degree can get tuition waived at UMaine System schools, and McQuinn is taking advantage. He’s getting a bachelor’s degree in art and likes to work near the center so he can frequently pop in and make himself a coffee. He said while he mostly uses the center for academic support, and Capra’s guidance, he’s observed the positive social impact on fellow adult undergrads.
“I like the fact that it’s not just senior learners, that it’s people from all sorts of nontraditional roles, whether it’s a single parent or someone that’s emancipated from their family. A big thing in terms of advancing in life and the world is having support, and sadly many people don’t have support, so I think this is a great added resource,” he said. “Because boy, if you bail out of school because you didn’t feel like you knew how to navigate it, it’s going to change your life.”
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