Differences in Motivation of Adult and Younger Undergraduates

Abstract

Adults in their twenties, thirties, forties, and older have enrolled in increasing numbers in higher education institutions as the number of traditional age students has declined. Colleges and universities that were once filled with youths are now actively recruiting the adult population to make up the enrollment deficit caused by declining numbers of youth who either do not exist or are developing career lines that do not include traditional higher education. If these adult learners are to be adequately served, institutions of higher education must assess their needs and motivations, understand the differences between adult learners and the traditional age college student, and make appropriate adjustment in administrative procedures, programming, and the teaching-learning process. The motivation of adults to seek learning has been researched in recent years. Houle [7] interviewed twenty-two adult learners and derived three learner types from that sample. They were identified as goal oriented, activity oriented, and learning oriented. In a national survey Johnstone and Rivera [8] reported relationships between demographic variables such as age, sex, and socioeconomic status and the reasons for enrolling in some kind of organized learning experience. More recently, Cross [6] reported the results of research conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics, and related adult education participants' responses to demographic variables.