Definition
Non-traditional
students can be defined in a variety of ways. Many people identify
non-trads by their age, with anybody over the age of 25 who
is going to school considered to be a non-traditional student.
However, this is a limited definition because it only encapsulates
a small portion of those students who do not fit the model of
typical students in higher education.
A better
approach is to identify characteristics of students that are
typical of traditional students in higher education. We might
then define traditional students as able-bodied, middle class
adults, usually between the ages of 18 and 22, who work no more
than part-time, who may live on campus, and who attend school
full-time.
Students
who have matriculated directly from high school into college
are normally considered traditional students. Non-traditional
students may attend school part-time, work full-time, be older
than 25, be a parent, a spouse, be from the lower-class, be
from a family who has not attended college before, or be partially
disabled.
Here at Western Kentucky University, it appears that approximately
60% of our students are first generation college students. In
addition, more than half of our part-time students are over
the age of 25. Approximately 40% of our community college students
are over the age of 25. Similarly, 39% of attendees at extended
campuses are also over the age of 25.
Almost 20%
of our undergraduate students are 25 or older. As we can see,
WKU has a large number of non-traditional students. None of
these statistics includes other categories of non-traditional
students such as disability status, employment status, or income.
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