A Study of Factors Related to Success for Nontraditional versus Traditional Aged Students at a Public Urban Community College

Authors

Megan McCormick, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

8-2011

Document Type

Article

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Educational Administration, Under the Supervision of Professor Timothy A. Alvarez. Lincoln, Nebraska: August, 2011

Copyright 2011 Megan McCormick

Abstract

Non-traditional students encounter many obstacles in attending college and earning a degree. Many of these obstacles, including work, family, and financial responsibilities have been shown to hinder older students’ academic success as well as their campus involvement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a difference using a number of factors that relate to the success of non-traditional and traditional aged students at the Community College of Allegheny County, Boyce Campus. Success was determined by a number of factors including (a) whether a student has formally declared a major; (b) their grade point average; (c) their use of available campus services including tutoring, services for students with disabilities, career services, transfer and personal counseling; and (d) whether a student is involved on campus.

Forty-four non-traditional and 69 traditional aged students participated in this quantitative study at the Community College of Allegheny County, Boyce Campus, located in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Participants ranged in age from 18-57 and were classified as either freshmen or sophomores in college. Participants completed a survey instrument created by the researcher and the results were used to determine if there was a difference in their overall academic success and involvement.