This study systematically screens thousands of households to find current, recent and prospective undergraduate, graduate and/or noncredit adult learners because, as recent “buyers”, those adults can give the most accurate description of what adult students want now and in the near future.
Adults who are already in the learning market can give the most realistic and reliable descriptions of what adult students want. Interviewing a cross-section of such adults produces a template of their preferences that your institution can lay over its current programs and practices to see where they match—or mismatch—the market. The result is an unparalleled set of data for decisions about how to attract, serve, and retain more adult students.
Based on these descriptions, actual and preferred patterns of study can be identified. Understanding student preferences is essential in attracting, serving, and retaining students.
Study 2 Shows You
- What courses adults most often take.
- What credentials adults most often pursue.
- When they would take their courses.
- Where they would prefer to study.
- What services they want from an institution.
- Which media (print, mass media, electronic) are best for communicating with them.
- Whether they are interested in online and/or hybrid courses.
- Their impressions of other area colleges.
- Their impressions/attitudes about your college.
- What they think of weekend college.
- Which features of your college are most attractive.
- Which colleges they would prefer to attend.
- How much they would spend.
Finally, the personal characteristics of the respondents are gathered so that we can describe your community’s adult learners in regard to gender, age, income level, level of education when they last enrolled, zip code of residence and work, tuition reimbursement options if employed, ethnicity, and employment status.
Study 2 Helps You
- Compare your institution's current program to adult preferences.
- Revise your current program to match adult student demand.
- Shape recruitment and marketing strategies that reach prospective adult students.
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