Reinvesting in the Third Age

Dr. Beverley J. Pitts
This piece was written as a guest perspective for the American Council on Education's Solutions for Our Future national e-newsletter. It appeared in June 2008.

We've always known that a well-educated workforce is vital to a growing economy, but several market forces have made the pursuit of higher education even more imperative for U.S. workers today. Chief among them are the closing of factories and corporate downsizing, causing many workers to pursue higher education for the first time and others with college degrees to return to school to prepare for a new career.

Even degreed professionals who are in high-demand fields are finding that they need to continually upgrade their knowledge and skills to remain competitive.

The common thread through all of these scenarios is the adult learner, and it is imperative that we invest in them for reasons both moral and practical. Economic survival aside, we have a duty to help displaced workers find a new path to a good living that only a good education can provide. At the same time, we need to reinvest in the Third Age—that time when the children are grown and a whole new set of opportunities lies ahead. Today's senior citizens are carving out fresh niches in business and industry; it behooves us to support them by helping to clarify and fulfill their educational needs.

The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning reports that 30 percent of the adult population in the United States—some 59 million individuals—has not experienced postsecondary education, and in 35 states more than 60 percent of the population does not have an associate’s degree or higher. (CAEL 2008)

According to CAEL, in my state of Indiana and the surrounding states of Ohio and Michigan, postsecondary institutions are serving older adults (defined as 40 to 60 years old) at a lower rate than the U.S. average. Illinois, another state heavily hit by factory closings, is doing somewhat better than the U.S. average. In these four rust belt states, the percentage of working-age adults lacking even an associate’s degree ranges from 64 percent (Illinois) to 71 percent (Indiana).

The statistics reveal both a problem and opportunity — a problem because the United States cannot continue to grow in wealth and prosperity without producing more highly educated workers, and an opportunity because American higher education has barely tapped into its vast human resource of adult learners. Further, as CAEL has noted, the U.S. cannot rely on the “traditional K-16 pipeline” to fulfill educational and workforce needs; it simply will be inadequate.

The University of Indianapolis just observed the 10th anniversary of its School for Adult Learning, which has helped hundreds of adults get their first degree by taking accelerated evening classes on our campus. Those first-time degree earners are the group most likely to come to mind when we think of "adult learners." Given the grim CAEL statistics, America’s colleges and universities have a ready market in these students, but the pipeline is even larger when you consider those with degrees who must advance their knowledge — or perhaps start over.

To meet their needs, American’s institutions of higher education must look beyond course structures and delivery methods that were developed for traditional residential students. This is beginning to happen. The University of Indianapolis is embracing alternative delivery models by taking nursing degree programs into hospitals and MBA programs into plants and corporate offices. In addition to providing a structure and delivery that suits adult learners at these sites, we can respond to specific employer needs for workforce education — emphasizing, for instance, supply chain management at a logistics-focused firm.

UIndy is one of many universities with a transition to teaching program, and has just established Indiana’s first accelerated master’s program in nursing administration for career-changers wanting to transition to nursing in a leadership role. The master’s coursework for the nursing degree is being offered entirely on line, providing more flexibility and convenience for its nontraditional students.

These are the types of innovations universities must adopt, and on an even broader scale, to meet the pressing demands of adult learners and employers, while aggressively pushing for policies and sources of financial aid to make programs accessible and affordable. That will not happen if we don’t first pull ourselves out of our collective preoccupation with the 18- to 24-year-old student and adjust our mindset about adult learners. Nothing less than our economic future is at stake.