Adults enrolled in online college classes and pursuing online degrees might be the biggest beneficiaries of the new federal education bill intended to generate $61 billion for higher education and tuition assistance.
Nearly 7 million adult students comprise as much as 70 percent of college enrollment, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Some say adults are making the most of a sluggish economy by investing in the future. Oftentimes, they're enjoying the convenience and flexibility that online college classes and online degree programs afford. And tuition assistance offerings, including grants for college, are becoming more readily available to them.
"The payoff is so significant - and the cost of not obtaining a college degree or credential so steep - that huge numbers of adult students are stepping up to face the challenges," Lumina Foundation for Education President Jamie P. Merisotis wrote in a foundation publication.
The Lumina Foundation and the Council for the Adult and Experiential Living work to expand adult access to higher education, in part by encouraging added tuition assistance. Through the education bill, the government expects to save money and boost college graduation rates.
The education bill in part ends government subsidies and backing for banks and other private lenders that issue student loans. Over the course of 10 years, it pumps $36 billion into the government's Pell grant program, provides $2 billion to community college job training programs, and makes payments easier for students awarded the government's Stafford and Perkins loans.
The shift in the adult student population has been coming for some time. While the number of 18 to 24-year-old students increased by 41 percent between 1970 and 2000, the number of adult students rose 170 percent during this time, according to a report entitled, "32 Trends Affecting Distance Education." The United States nevertheless reportedly ranks 14th in college graduation rates worldwide. Adults traditionally spent well more than four years working part-time to earn a bachelor degree and reportedly had few financial assistance options.
Online college classes and online degree programs have since risen by leaps and bounds. Some institutions offer accelerated online degree programs and provide online college credit for life experience. Pell grants alone cover as much as 35 percent of the average college tuition. The grants don't have to be repaid, and they're available to students working toward their first bachelor degree and post-graduate students in teaching programs that lead to certificates or licenses.
Pell grants are awarded based on financial need. And for adults, that need is measured by income and assets, family household size, and the number of family members, excluding parents, who attend institutions of higher education. Grant recipients don't have to repay the money, but they must be enrolled at least half-time in order to be eligible.
There are reportedly also schools and states that have starting to set aside grants for college specifically for adult students. At least one agency offers tuition waivers for displaced workers who are unemployed or earning less money than they had been, the Lumina Foundation reports. And some employers now offer an employee investment method that the Center for Adult and Experiential Learning reportedly initiated.
Through this method, known as a Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA), employees can have pretax money for training and education deducted from their payroll checks and matched by their employers.
Adults seeking tuition assistance for their distance learning college can also look toward non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, civic groups and labor unions offer scholarships, fellowships and grants for these students to college and get a degree.
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