A considerable number of traditional-age learners are favoring colleges with flexible, remote degree options over residential campuses.
Four-year universities have long encouraged students coming straight from high school to enroll in their campus-based programs while guiding older learners to their online divisions, creating a divide between the two groups.
But Generation Z, whose members were born in 1997 or later, may prove to be the force that can break down those barriers.
At Western Governors University, an online institution that targets adult learners for self-paced programs that begin each month, students average 37 years old.
Yet Gen Zers are the university’s fastest-growing demographic. Students between the ages of 18 and 22 accounted for 8.4% of students who began programs this February, up from 5.1% in January of 2018, according to data provided to Education Dive. That trend coincided with a decline in the share of new students who are 43 and older.