Working adults increasingly are interested in pursuing postsecondary education, but they are also less confident about the value of college.
Working adults enrolled in record numbers this summer at the University of Washington Continuum College, where roughly 51,000 students last year attended continuing education and professional development programs.
Continuum has seen a softening of enrollment numbers so far for the still-young fall term, amid growing national concern about Black, Latino, lower-income and other vulnerable student groups leaving higher education.
Yet the college is fielding more calls these days from prospective adult students, said Rovy Brannon, vice provost for Continuum College, who oversees all professional and continuing education programs at UW. And the average call time has gotten longer.
“We’re hearing from a lot of adults with increasingly complex lives,” Brannon said, noting that many feel they need to get through the fall before deciding whether to enroll next year. “They want at least one certain thing in their lives.”
Brannon’s observations line up with the latest polling data from the Strada Education Network, a nonprofit focused on pathways between education and work.