Adult Learner Interview

Interview of First Year Adult Learner
My interview was conducted via phone with a student at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. For all purposes her name is Co-ed Cady.
STUDENT’S BACKGROUND:
Co-ed Cady is a 40 year old, recently divorced, white female which lives in Kalamazoo, MI she is originally from Anderson, IN but, moved to Kalamazoo when her husband was transferred there ten years ago. Co-ed has two children a daughter 22 and a son 19. Her main support system is in Anderson but, her children are in Kalamazoo and they are the sole reason for her still living there. Co-ed works as a receptionist at a real estate office and is currently enrolled in Kalamazoo Valley Community College, a small college in Kalamazoo, MI. The college offers
She wished she would have had better study skills. Co-ed took her remedial Math and English class last semester. She passed the English but had to repeat the Math class this semester. She also took two other general studies classes. This semester she is taking the remedial Math again and three other general studies classes. This is the last attempt she gets for remedial math but she said “heck once I pass it I still have two other math classes to take and then science.” She is glad the professors are nice and that she is able to have a tutor to help her
Co-ed is an adult learner and meets the typical “characteristics which include: entry to college delayed, being employed full time, being financially independent, attending classes part time. (Choy 2002, 1) She is over 25 years of age or older and did not follow the conventional pattern of continuing a postsecondary immediately after completion of high school. She falls into the 56% of college students which are typically female according to (Upcraft, 19). Adult learners come to college campuses with wide ranges of backgrounds and a variety of reasons. Co-ed came back because she found herself displaced and needed to find a way to financially support herself. Unlike normal adult learners, Co-ed is attending college full-time students and working full time but she does not have a family at home that depends on her. Co-ed considers herself as a “student who works”. This places her in the 26% of students which work and go to school according to the 1999–2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (Berker and Horn 2003, 5) Co-ed did enrolled in a college and program which offers evening and weekend classes which she can fit into her work schedule. Other similarities to a typical adult learner include flexible class schedules to fit around her work and the fact she enrolled in a two year college where she is a commuter. The advantage she has is she is committed to getting her degree which is good and hopefully helpful in