Recession Spurs The Return To College

By Daniel Gerger, Manhattanville College

In 2010, about halfway between the start of the Great Recession and today, researchers at Georgetown University published a report titled “Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements by 2018.” A key finding of the report was that the recession had accelerated the shift to jobs requiring a postsecondary education. By 2018 the economy will create 46.8 million jobs. Nearly two-thirds of these jobs will require workers with at least some college education and 15.4 million of these jobs will require a bachelor’s degree, the researchers found.

During the Great Recession,  nearly 8 million jobs were lost from December 2007 to July 2010.  Manufacturing jobs disappeared and were replaced by jobs that require different kinds of workers with much higher education levels. This growth in demand for postsecondary education dovetails with two major trends. First, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics the 10 fastest growing careers through 2020, including event planners (#2) and market research analysts (#4) will require workers with a bachelor’s degree.  Second, occupations as a whole are steadily requiring more education. The workers who were displaced or lost their jobs during the recession could be educated to fill the new jobs that are being created in this new economy.

However, many colleges and universities have structures in place that support a system built largely for traditional students and these programs will not work for most adult learners. The Lumina Foundation, whose goal is to promote degree attainment for adult students, funded a series of research projects that examined what institutions of higher learning could do to reduce barriers for adult students. The study found that college programs, policies, and services developed for 18 to 22-year-olds will not work for most adult students. Because adult students work, have families, have extensive life experiences, and often can only attend school in the evenings or on weekends, they need different types of programs and services. 

The Lumina study also found that few factors influence adult learners’ success more than planning and counseling for the student. Many adult students choose nontraditional paths to postsecondary education. To find the right path, adult learners need a guide. Many colleges are starting to designate a single point of contact to help returning adult students navigate the system. While the contact person may not be able to directly solve all of the problems a student faces, he or she can direct that student to available resources and help keep them from becoming discouraged.

If you are considering returning to college to complete your degree, be sure to investigate the kinds of support and counseling the institution offers. It it does not have a program tailored specifically to adult students, you may want to keep searching.

Daniel Gerger is the Director of Continuing Education, Summer Sessions and Special Programs at Manhattanville College, and lives in Maplewood, N.J., with his wife and three children.