The answer to this question is simple – definitely not! Many adults in their 30s, 40s and 50s are going back to school, and for lots of different reasons. Some schools report that their average online students are between 24 and 50, and working. Online learning has created a whole new subset of students who had wanted to go back to school, but couldn’t due to family and work restraints.

Online learning especially has opened up the doors for these students, who can now pursue degrees at their own pace and on their own time. These students, whether they take classes online or at physical campuses, are sometimes referred to as re-entry, non-traditional or adult students. Their ages generally range from 25 to 69 (though online students tend to be under 45), and while they are very often female, more and more men are also going back to school to improve upon their professional skills and to give themselves better chances for advancement.

Some of these students may have never gone to college, may have started college but had to stop due to personal, family or financial reasons, or they simply want to go back to add an additional degree or to completely change their career path. In fact, The Department of Education recently reported that 13 percent of students now enrolled in college were single parents, up from 7.6 percent in 1993. Which begs to ask the question – are these older students really as “non-traditional” as the name implies?

The U.S. Department of Education has put out many articles as of late reporting that adult students are the fastest growing educational demographic. As of 2007, over 20% of college students are over the age of 35. People are living longer, economic futures are more unstable than they have been in the past, and older adults are thinking about how they want to secure their futures, and many of them are choosing college. Whether it’s to start a new business, to finally fulfill a lifelong dream or to simply investigate an interest they never had an opportunity to explore, older large numbers of older students are heading back to school in droves.

Tags: Non-Traditional Students, Online Education