Journal of Higher Education Management 34, 2 (2019)

Academic Advising Challenges with Adult Students Adult learners need additional academic support from college administrators and faculty in order to navigate the academic and institutional challenges of the postsecondary environment (Kazis et al., 2007). This is especially true for low-income, minority, or first-generation adult learners who may come to a community college academically underprepared or have limited knowledge of higher education (Kazis et al., 2007). Although academic advising services are offered to all students on college campuses, for adults learners, having access to advising services during non-traditional hours may pose a challenge at certain community college institutions. Traditional academic advising services are usually offered during the day with some academic advising offices attempting to accommodate students with more non-traditional hours such as early evening times. Some community college academic advising offices have even employed online advising services to students which also typically operate during the early evening timeframe. However, adult learners face employment and family obligations which make traditional or even some non-traditional hour’s tough to integrate into their schedule.

Furthermore, traditional academic advising services are typically not offered on weekends which oftentimes may be the only flexible time adult learners have to focus on their academic studies.

Another additional challenge associated with academic advising is that adult learners may be assigned to faculty or adjunct faculty as their primary advisor who may have limited experience and/or little interest in academic advising (Habley, 1994). Community colleges are now integrating adjunct or part-time faculty into additional roles on campus to provide supplementary support to students (Pearch & Marutz, 2005). This integration may have an effect on the quality of academic advising services offered to adult learners since academic advising is not a main responsibility of adjunct faculty, and therefore, exposure to academic advising policies and practices may be minimal for that individual (Pisani & Stott, 1998). Also, academic advising may be more challenging for adjunct faculty since adjuncts may have limited knowledge of advising theory or may have underdeveloped academic advising skills. This is of particular importance given that much research has been dedicated to understanding adult learning theory (Kenner & Weinerman, 2011) which can be applied to support adult learners when integrated with effective advising practices.

Strategies to Support Adult Learners in Community College Using Effective Advising Practices Developing and enhancing academic advising services and policies will not entirely eliminate the academic and institutional challenges of adult learners. As mentioned previously, there are numerous socioeconomic, personal, and academic challenges that adult learners face during their tenure at a postsecondary institution such as, but are not limited to, employment conflicts, familial obligations and financial responsibilities (Kasworm, 1990; Kimmel, 2012; Ritt, 2008). However, according to Light (2004) academic advising may be the single most underrated characteristic of a success college experience and when postsecondary administrators and faculty focus on providing quality and accessible academic advising services to adult learners, this leads to greater retention and persistence of the adult student population.

There are several focus areas which will be addressed in the remainder of this paper on how community college institutions, postsecondary administrators, and faculty can develop, alter, 34