Joanne Martin, 52, has responsibilities as a wife, mother, grandmother and caretaker for her mother, who is battling cancer. She’s also a charitable clinic volunteer. After starting a nursing degree back in the early ’90s, Martin stopped out to start a family, building a career as a medical assistant for over 20 years, until carpal tunnel syndrome forced her to change direction.
Around the same time, she saved her husband’s life by performing CPR when he suffered a heart attack during a bout with COVID. Meanwhile, her oldest son was starting college as an adult. It felt like the right time for Martin to return for that nursing degree.
One would think the academics alone in her program at Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina would keep Martin plenty busy. The 2024 Student Voice survey of 5,025 undergraduates, conducted in May by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab, found that 61 percent of those aged 25 and up have not participated in any activities on campus, compared to 28 percent of those ages 18 to 24. Similarly, 60 percent of community college students versus 25 percent of four-year students surveyed have not gotten involved.
But falling in line with these trends among older and two-year college students is hardly how Martin has approached being back in school.
Methodology
Inside Higher Ed’s 2024 annual Student Voice survey was fielded in May in partnership with Generation Lab and had 5,025 total student respondents.
The sample includes over 3,500 four-year students and 1,400 two-year students. Over one-third of respondents are post-traditional (attending a two-year institution or 25 or older in age), 16 percent are exclusively online learners and 40 percent are first-generation students.
The complete data set, with interactive visualizations, is available here. In addition to questions about their college experience, the survey asked students about their academics, health and wellness, and preparation for life after college.
Last spring, she had a full schedule of classes but found herself going in early and staying late for extracurriculars. This semester, with one class and a lab, she is on campus twice a week—and still participating in activities about five to six hours per week.
Why the extra time on campus? Martin believes being involved will best position her for scholarships to continue her nursing studies after community college. She’s currently the Phi Theta Kappa honor society president, part of the student government association and in a grant-funded job registering students to vote.
While the schedule is rigorous, Martin says navigating it might be easier for her than younger peers. “Because of my age, I know about managing time, what’s important,” she explains. “You have to make sacrifices. I just buckled down … I don’t do a whole lot of outside things, just focusing on school and doing my community service.” With her husband feeling better, he can assist more with her parents’ care.
“I don’t think there’s anything else I’d rather be doing than what I’m doing,” adds Martin, who also frequently attends events at the two campuses nearest to her home. “In fact, I don’t think I’m doing enough.”
Who’s Involved, Who’s Not
Community colleges may be struggling more than four-year colleges to get students to attend events on campus. Forty-nine percent of Student Voice survey respondents at two-year colleges say they have not attended any events, compared to 17 percent of four-year students.
For GTCC, adding a weekly Titan Tuesday event on the main campus in Jamestown—plus Titan Wednesdays and Thursdays on two branch campuses—has significantly increased student involvement. In his broad role as the college’s associate vice president for student retention and completion, David Pittman oversees student life and has worked to launch and enhance the events, which include both fun and informational components. “Once students have seen and heard about it, it’s the place to go,” he says.
When he arrived at the institution two-plus years ago, Pittman “didn’t see anybody, anywhere” and “felt there was no community on campus, particularly on branch campuses.” Having previously worked at four-year public flagships and a private, selective nonprofit institution, he saw this as “a very weird experience.”
Now, he’s seen a “full transformation,” with students walking around and hanging out in the student unions.
Seth Matthew Fishman at Villanova University, who has held student life and academic roles in higher ed, describes campus involvement like this: “A subset [of students] will show up from day one, a whole bunch in the middle are more episodic, maybe attending events more than being joiners. And others will have marginal or minimal contact. Some may never want to be involved.”
However, Student Voice respondents who say they’ve never been to a campus event may not even realize they have, points out Fishman, who is assistant dean for curriculum and assessment in Villanova’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as an associate teaching professor of education and counseling and the higher education leadership graduate program director. One example of a potentially forgotten event: an orientation picnic.
Among the full sample of Student Voice respondents, two-thirds indicating at least some involvement in campus activities can be cause for celebration. But as with many areas of student success, administrators tend to focus on raising the bar to reach others.
“Admittedly, this one hit me in the feels, to borrow from student vernacular,” says Jon Kapell, interim dean of students at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. “To have 35 percent say they have not participated speaks volumes and necessitates our need to dig into this and better determine how to meet the needs of various populations … I have more questions than answers. How do we better tailor programs to student needs and availability? Do [students] see the value in these engagements?”
Involvement Impediments
The survey questioned students about factors that would likely increase their involvement in activities and attendance at events. The top responses relate to convenience of timing and location (four in 10) and awareness of happenings (about three in 10). , “I would see them out and about and they’d say, hello, school mom!”
Martin would like to see colleges focusing more on motivating older students to participate. “I’m so glad I got to go on that weekend retreat with the students so I could tell my story. You need to tell the stories of older students.”
More Student Perspective on the College Experience
The 2024 Student Voice survey’s college experience section also asked about campus climate, the trust students have in various types of individuals across the institution and their satisfaction as “customers.” A few highlights:
- Asked about campus climate—if students feel welcome, valued and supported—half of respondents (49 percent) believe most feel that way. Three in 10 (29 percent) think some students do, two in 10 (18 percent) think nearly all do and 3 percent think barely any do.
- Seven in 10 (69 percent) think campus leaders have the ability to improve campus climate.
- Both in their classes and across campus, 43 percent of four-year college students and 35 percent of two-year college students view themselves as customers and not just students (being a customer, the question stated, means thinking the college should meet their needs and empathize with their personal experiences because they are paying tuition and fees).
- Among students who feel they are customers both in classes and across campus, 49 percent say they are very or somewhat satisfied customers.
- While nearly two-thirds of continuing-generation students who consider themselves customers feel satisfied with the service they’ve gotten, that dips to 56 percent for first-generation students.
- Students are most likely to say they have “a lot of trust” in professors (44 percent), academic advisers (36 percent) and campus safety officers (31 percent). Students are least likely to have a lot of trust in their institution’s president/executive-level officials (18 percent) and financial aid staff (22 percent).
Coming soon: Additional coverage on trust and satisfaction in getting needs met
Hollins, a women’s institution, has been intentional about reaching students ages 24 and up who are returning to college through the Horizon Program, established in 1974. Horizon activities include special celebrations for seniors, an honor society and monthly lunches. The students also have a dedicated lounge space and staff responsible for supporting them.
“When we program toward them, we try to build a sense of pride,” says Brown. But adult learners express also how much they enjoy being in classes and forming friendships and mentoring relationships with traditional-aged students.
Considering the likelihood that older students tend to have responsibilities that make it difficult to prioritize the college experience, Fishman says higher ed can rethink assumptions about events and getting faculty involved by building opportunities such as field trips and guest speakers into scheduled course times.
Within Fishman’s graduate-level higher education leadership classes, he arranges for student life professionals to visit for networking and questions. “It’s a great way to connect with the alumni base, especially young alumni,” he says. And underrepresented students get to “see people like themselves.”
In the Student Voice survey’s health and wellness section, respondents were asked about their biggest sources of stress. The top response, at 48 percent: balancing academics with personal, family or financial responsibilities. And that jumps to 60 percent for respondents ages 25 and up.
These findings should be top of mind for those working to engage students and make extracurriculars more accessible, Brown says.
Not everyone will participate, and some adult learners especially will want to prioritize getting their degree. “Others realize there are experiences students are garnering, and they desire that, too. They have to figure out a way to do both,” Brown continues. Higher ed professionals can help by fostering an understanding of how campus involvement connects to students’ goals for after college.
“We’ve got some work to do.”
How did your institution or department help students manage challenges that could prevent them from wider participation in campus life? Tell us about it.