HEI is excited to announce the release of a new research study: “Persevering to Completion: Understanding the Experiences of Adults Who Successfully Returned to College.” The study is commissioned by The Lumina Foundation, a non-profit, independent foundation in Indianapolis dedicated to post-secondary attainment for traditional college-age students and adults alike. Contributing to the report are HEI’s Tashera Gale, PhD, Alisa Cunningham, and Wendy Erisman, PhD.
We invite you to access the report here.
The key findings of the report center on adult degree completion: why adults return, the processes that enable adults to complete, and barriers that different adults face in completion.
As degree completion numbers have been falling in recent years, many institutions of higher education have been focusing on a different cohort of students: adults with some credential, no degree. These institutions know that these students can easily complete their education with the removal of certain barriers. This report explores the disparate barriers adults face in returning to college and how they were able to overcome them.
HEI and the Lumina Foundation co-hosted a webinar presenting these findings, which can be found here.
Our founder, Patricia Steele, PhD, and Frank Swanzy Essien Jr., of Lumina Foundation co-authored a piece on the topic, which can be found here.
Lumina’s Courtney Brown published an excellent overview of the topic with a range of sources, including HEI’s report. Other press pieces we received mentioning the report include an article by Inside Higher Ed, and an article by the Community College Daily.
As always, we welcome any thoughts or questions you might have–please click here to contact us!