“Am I Too Old to Pursue a Degree?” Ageism at Midlife in a Community College Setting

Abstract

Adults who are beginning or returning to finish a degree program at midlife face different challenges than do their younger counterparts whose college experience begins at 18 years of age. We suspect that internalized ageism, defined as self-directed ageist attitudes and behaviors, may hinder nontraditional age students along with the experience of individual and institutional ageism. To evaluate this notion, we assessed the prevalence of self-reported positive and negative ageist behaviors in 205 students (M = 21.95, SD = 7.28, age range: 16-52 years) and 29 faculty (M = 49.55, SD = 11.07, age range: 33-71 years) in a community college in southeast Louisiana in the spring of 2019. All completed the Relating to Older People Evaluation (ROPE; Cherry & Palmore, 2008) and an open-ended question on how they viewed middle-aged students. Quantitative analyses indicated that students’ ROPE scores exceeded those of the faculty and more positive than negative ageist behaviors were reported. Qualitative analyses revealed mostly positive expectations of middle-aged students among narrative responses to the open-ended question. As a follow-up, 10 nontraditional age students were individually interviewed in person to obtain an in-depth assessment of their community college experience. Strong evidence of internalized, individual, and institutional ageism were evident in their responses. Their narratives also revealed atypical life experiences and rich details of faculty-level and institutional-level policies that supported or hindered their academic progress. Implications of these data for addressing ageism on multiple levels in higher education are considered.