Transcript Slide 1

Transforming the
Student Experience
for
Nontraditional
Learners and Student
Veterans
Overview
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•
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Introduction and Welcome
Campus Realities
Campus Transformations
Frameworks to Guide Transformations
– Advocacy
– Feminist and Relational Cultural Theory
– Transition Theory
• A little Role Playing Game
• A Word From Our Students
Campus Realities
Trends and Current Data of
Nontraditional Students
What is a Nontraditional Student
• NCES
• Three Tiers
• Older than typical
• Part time
• Financially
independent
• Worked 35 hours+
• Having non-spouse
dependents
• GED
• CAEL
• Financially
Independent OR
• Major life
responsibilities outside
school OR
• Principal identities
beyond the role of a
full-time student
• Typically defined as one
who is 24+, married,
OR has dependents
GROWTH
Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center
Historic Trends – Future Projections
Percentage of Total Students
80
70
60
50
40
30
Over age 25
20
1970
1980
Part Time
1990
Traditional Aged
2000
2010
By 2021 – National Center for Statistics in Education projects:
25% increase in students 25-34 years old
20% growth over 35
10% growth traditional aged
4% increase in students taking part-time courses
Source: National Center for Educational Statistics – Digest of Educational Statistics
The Changing Nature of Higher
Education - Implications
– The Traditional Student is changing
• Over half of all college students are in community colleges
• 20% of students work full-time during college
• 4 out of 5 college students work part-time, averaging 19 hours per
week
• More than 1/3 of students attend part-time
• About 20% of college students live on campus
• From 2009 to 2013, Veterans receiving education benefits
increased 100% from ½ million to a million.
How will your institution and Student Affairs adapt
to a changing traditional student and increase
in Adult Students?
Campus
Transformations
Austin Peay State University
• Founded 1927; fall 2013 enrollment of
10,400 including 35% adult and 20.5%
military-related undergraduate
students
• Clarksville/Montgomery County
population of 175,000; 5th largest city
in Tennessee and 2nd highest veteran
population in U.S. at 24%
• Home of Fort Campbell, the 101st
Airborne Division
The Complete College Tennessee
Act 2010
”Even if Tennessee
were to reach the
best performing
states in the
performance of the
traditional age
population, degree
attainment goals will
not be reached. It is
only through
enrolling and
graduating more
adult students that
the state can meet
such goals.”
http://tn.gov/moa/adult_strag_grp.shtml
THEC Performance Funding Model
“The exclusive use of
outcomes, rather than
beginning or end of
term enrollment, and
the inclusion of a
unique weight for each
outcome for each
campus, are the two
primary innovations
introduced by
Tennessee into higher
education finance
policy.”
Challenges to Serving
Nontraditional Students
• Equal Access to Leadership Opportunities,
and Programming
• Traditions that welcome families.
• Equal Access to High Impact Practices (HIP)
• Facilities that are Family Friendly
• Staff dedicated to the population
• Self-Advocacy
• Technology Training
Additional Challenges to Serving
Veteran Students
• Readjustment issues / Feeling of not
belonging / Not able to relate.
• In recovery from mental and physical
injuries.
• Used to dogmatic, structured culture based
on enforcement of rules.
Transformative Practices to Meet
Those Challenges
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Advocacy & Transition
Unique cultural approach to Centers
• Military Student Center
• Adult & Nontraditional Student Center
Population specific ceremonies
Dedicated Staff to the Population
Student Organizations
• The Non-Traditional Student Society
• Alpha Sigma Lambda Chapter
• Student Veterans Organization
Partnerships with Federal Government and
other organizations
• TN Patriot Fund, S.A.F.E, MilitaryOne
Source, Wounded Warrior ProjectBoots to Books program.
Transformative Practices to Meet
Those Challenges
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Programs and Resources
Scholarships
Welcome Packets for Veterans
Texts for Vets
Evening Childcare
Enhanced Courses
Modified HIP Practices
• Mentoring and Adult Café
• Short Trip Alternative Breaks
• Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Frameworks for
Transformation
Why Advocate for
Nontraditional Students
• More vulnerable
• More life experience = less passive
• Cannot afford financial and time-loss burden
Advocacy: Benefits and Risks
• Aggressive action on part of staff person over advising
or counseling.
• Negative and Positive outcomes for advocate and for
student
• The more vulnerable – the more advocacy they need
• Not just advising
– might be advocating for a change in, or exception to
policy or pointing out flaws in processes
• Choose your battles and always verify facts.
• Advocacy is a NASPA Student Affairs Competency.
Using Theory to think
about transformation
Feminist Counseling Theory
Connectedness and interdependence
are common socializations for women
and should be developed for healthy
growth.
Gilligan (1977)
Relational-Cultural Theory
The dominant culture valorizes power over others…,
intrapsychic conflict…success accomplished through
competitive achievement, …. They underemphasize
the importance of connection, growth-fostering
relationship and community, and often position a
person’s need for interconnectedness as a sign of
“weakness.” - Stone Center Theory Group
www.jbmti.org
Transition Theory
“Any event, or non-event, that results in
changed relationships, routines, assumptions
and roles” - Schlossberg, 1984
The Role of Perception
•
Transition Process
A person’s ability to cope with a transition is
reliant on their resources in 4 areas:
Situation
Self:
Support
Mattering
Strategies
Key Transition involves two
levels of Appraisals
– Primary: How the individual
feels about the transition in
general
– Secondary: How individual
feels about their resources
in dealing with the
Transition?
How do you or your Adult programs help
Students identify these resources?
Questions?
2014 MIMSAC Conference * Memphis, TN * May 16, 2014
A little Role Playing
A Word From The Students
Thank You For Joining Us
• Austin Peay State University
– Jasmin Linares, MSM, Coordinator Military
Student Center
– Martha Harper M.Ed., Coordinator Adult &
Nontraditional Student Center
Resources
• Links and sources
Bousquet, 2008 (How the university works: higher
education and the low wage nation)
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning.
Gilligan, Carol, 1982 (In a different voice)
Giroux, 2007 (The University in chains: confronting the
military-industrial-academic complex)
National Center for Education Statistics
National Student Clearinghouse for Research
Schlossberg, Nancy, 1984 (Counseling Adults in transition:
linking practice with theory)
Stone Center Theory Group www.jbmti.org
Tennessee Government
http://tn.gov/moa/adult_strag_grp.shtml
Tennessee Higher Education Commission www.tn.gov/thec
Veterans Administration http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/
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