Women at Work: Progress Prevented

Pam Sornson, JD on September 3, 2024

Females comprise almost half (49.7%) of the global population, yet they hold just a tiny percentage of control over community assets. In the 30 years since Beijing’s Fourth World Conference on Women, which sought to embed more equitable practices and strategies in national policies across the globe, achieving true progress for females has been challenging. In many cases, it’s moved slowly and incrementally. In other communities, it’s moved backward as newly installed governments intentionally limit women’s access to the resources they need to control their own destinies.

 

Equity is a Long Time Coming

For 60+ years, America (and the rest of the world) has grappled with ways to intentionally ‘level’ the business and corporate playing fields for underrepresented people, including those of color, the LGBTQ+ community, those who are differently abled, and females. Yet, despite spending billions of dollars in pursuit of thousands of policies, initiatives, and regulations, incoming data show that, in most cases, the shift toward equity for most target groups was minimal at best and, in some cases, non-existent.

Women as a class are a good population to use as a representative population when noting the delays in equity gains. They make up the largest ‘minority’ group on the planet, so what happens to them is often repeated in other disenfranchised groups and communities with fewer numbers. For example, women continue to be treated as ‘less valuable than’ their male counterparts despite demonstrative evidence that they are as intelligent, competent, and capable as men. Yet their earning power remains at only 82% of their male colleagues and has remained at that level for 20+ years.

Assessing the circumstances for women as leaders reveals how difficult it’s been for the gender to advance into higher levels of social policy determination and control:

  • At the time of the 1995 Beijing conference, 11% of all elected officials were women. Thirty years later, that number has risen to just 26%.
  • The number of female national leaders rose, too, (although not by much). Back then, only four countries had women at their helm; in 2024, that number had increased to 17. Those 17 countries represent less than 9% of the total 195 nations that exist today.
  • Also, over these past 30 years, the accomplishments of women leaders have been limited to very specific economic sectors. Gains were minimal at best in the globe’s most influential arenas: finance, energy, and technology. As of 2024, women held just 1% of leadership positions in IPO entities, 2% in the energy realm, and less than 10% each in the finance, equities, climate, and health sectors.
  • Making matters worse, in segments where the number of women is frequently higher than men, such as healthcare and education, women leaders are also suffering from a significant pay gap even though they have the same qualifications and offer the same benefits and values.

The small number of females holding significant leadership roles in global industries is startlingly slim, considering they comprise ~50% of the entire global population.

 

Advancing Women’s Equity Elevates the Economy, Too

Current data also reveals how biased and repressive policies damage the economy. Communities that intentionally limit the full expression of their human resource also deliberately shut off the countless new and innovative revenue streams that those unseen groups and individuals would generate. The policies also escalate community reliance on publicly funded social services because those who access them have no other options. Research shows that, in countries where these limitations are typical, they erode both the community’s and the nation’s economic futures.

In Pakistan, for example, women are at the mercy of the men who control virtually all public resources, from banks to business agencies to educational institutions. Those females who hope to gain more independence, economically and otherwise, are forced to seek support from entities that are not designed or interested in helping them – many of the barriers they face were intentionally injected into governing law and policy. Consequently, the would-be entrepreneurs often cannot access the capital, training, and networks they need to launch and grow their businesses.

Fortunately, there are organizations that are working to reverse both the rules that limit women and the policies that keep those rules in place. For example, the Center for Inclusive Growth (CARE) launched its Ignite Program (using funds from the Mastercard Impact Fund initiative) by providing critical capital resources to micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, most of which are owned by women. By doing so, the entity is building a solid foundation for small companies to thrive in communities where they would not have previously been allowed to exist. With a focus specifically on economic growth, the emerging strategy underscores how the whole community – men included – benefits when new woman-owned businesses are accepted and celebrated.

Further, it’s that access to capital that is having the most significant impact. Research by the Gates Foundation indicates that lack of access to capital is a significant obstacle for most women-owned companies, regardless of location. The Gates research suggests that the financial gap between these hyper-local enterprises and their male-run, larger corporations is as much as USD 5 trillion. Imagine the state of the global economy if these small but compelling companies were allowed to achieve their full potential.

 

Women make up half the population, yet too many existing rules and regulations were designed and remain in place with the specific intent of limiting their progress financially, economically, and socially. True equity for women won’t become the norm until the long-entrenched culture suppressing this critically important resource is dismantled.

Women at Work: Progress Obstructed

Pam Sornson, JD on September 3, 2024

For eons, women toiled as equal partners alongside men, providing comparably valuable assets to the community. Slowly, over time, however, the term ‘woman’s work’ took a dark turn and began to be used to denigrate women’s efforts as less significant than those of men. That bias continues to cost countless women millions of dollars in lost earnings and related economic opportunities.

The ironic reality is that the whole community—including its men—suffers when women and their contributions aren’t respected as equals. As the world works to assimilate the changes driven by COVID-19, disrupted industries, and rising technologies, more women are embracing new roles that were previously denied them and demonstrating clearly that their economic clout can match—or beat—that of their male colleagues or competitors.

 

Biases are Barriers to Economic Growth

Today’s women continue to face innumerable and often invisible challenges that impede their opportunities to pursue their dreams, both at work and in their lives. Across the global population:

  • Women are typically the foundation for their household and family, assuming the vast majority of domestic and caregiving duties, usually with no pay or other employment-related perks.
  • Even in areas where schools are available, girls are often less educated than boys, and adult women aren’t as literate as men.
  • In many cultures, girls are more valued for their reproductive capacity than their talents or skills. Female children as young as nine can be married with the expectation of becoming mothers as early as possible.
  • Women are also less likely to join the workforce in any capacity, being tied to home-related activities or unable to qualify for outside work that might be available near them. Even when they find work outside the home, they are often expected to maintain household standards despite their added obligations to their employer.

The consequence of these cultural norms is that women remain significantly behind men in terms of earning capacity, forward or upward mobility, and self-actualization. In fact, in 2023, the United Nations Development Programme released the results of a 10-year study for its Gender Social Norms Index that showed that nine in ten men around the world (90%) continue to harbor inherent biases against women and that the activities and behaviors that perpetuate inequality haven’t improved since 2010. Another globally respected entity, the WorldBank, estimates that economic losses caused by gender inequality total as much as $160 trillion annually.

Unless these biased and damaging norms are addressed, the women affected by them – and their daughters after them – will remain ever-dependent on the men who keep them contained within these small cultural parameters.

 

America’s Women Face Obstacles, Too, Especially in Business

Despite America’s layers of rules and regulations designed to reduce or eliminate gender biases, those remain decidedly entrenched in U.S. society, especially when business is involved. Data suggests that women entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage on many fronts compared to male business owners:

  • They receive only 4% of commercial loan funds, so banks and other lending institutions are perpetuating the discrimination.
  • When they do receive loans, often the terms of those agreements differ from similar contract with men. Women holding those loan notes usually pay higher interest rates than men and are given a shorter repayment term than men.
  • Finding venture capital (VC) funding is also not an option for most new female business owners. A 2023 review by Forbes revealed that only 1.9% of all VC investments went to female-founded start-ups in 2023, even though additional research suggests that women-owned businesses generate higher returns than those launched by men. That 1.9% accounts for only $3.4 billion of the total $170 billion in VC investments in all of 2023.

Other research shows how underinvesting in women-owned enterprises often results in poorer returns for investors. That data revealed that organizations run by women perform 63% better than entities founded by all-male teams and that internal rates of return on investment (ROIs) for women-led companies averaged 112% versus only 48% for male-led enterprises. The studies underscore the reality that the bias against women in business is not just unfair; it’s also not good business.

 

Doing Better Business Means Doing More With and For Women

Improving the welfare of women at work can only enhance the status and productivity of the entity, in the opinion of Forbes columnist Paolo Gaudiano, an Adjunct Associate Professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the founder of DEI tech start-up aleria.tech. He measures the economic impact of gender bias on corporations’ activities and financial fortunes. His work focuses on women in particular because they form the most extensive “historically underappreciated group” (HUG) in most companies.

Gaudiano’s research indicates companies that fail to include/enrich/embrace women in their workforce can and often do suffer significant financial losses as a result. Put another way, companies are likely to lose money through lost productivity, lower levels of morale, and higher rates of turnover and attrition when they treat their female employees worse than they treat their male workers. Examples he gives of ‘poor treatment’ include instances where:

  • Colleagues overlook the female subject matter expert and look to a less-qualified male coworker for answers.
  • Bosses give credit to male workers for female-generated ideas and efforts.
  • Substantive work discussions are held without including relevant women workers, who are left with no opportunity to contribute their perspective to the conversation.

Gaudiano notes, too, that these disparaging events occur more often in other underrepresented groups, too – the BOPOC and differently-abled communities as examples. Even white, cisgender, heterosexual males with no disabilities can suffer these slights.

 

Gaudiano isn’t the only expert espousing escalated investments in women-owned entities. Data from the Gates Foundation suggests that increasing the economic capacity of women in business could boost the global economy by as much as $10 trillion by 2030. The possibility of achieving that kind of payoff would indicate that investing more resources – money, time, support – into woman-owned companies would be a boon to them and their entire community.

Are DEI Initiatives Still Necessary?

Pam Sornson, JD on August 20, 2024

So, here’s the question: have diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives achieved their intended or desired goals? For decades, governments issued ‘Affirmative Action‘ (AA) mandates to balance economic and social inequities and undo the biases of past governing administrations. However, in 2023, the US Supreme Court determined that the AA directives that drove those efforts were unconstitutional. The resulting lack of official guidance on equity issues leaves a void as the nation ponders the obvious “now what?” concern.

One agency is already researching the impact of AA and now of its demise. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce recently released a paper on how AA initiatives played out on America’s college campuses, many of which used AA regulations to structure their student support strategies. Its report, “Progress Interrupted,” looks at how higher ed demographics have changed as a consequence of race-, gender-, etc.-conscious policies. Other conversations within the academic world are also focused on these issues as schools grapple with how to achieve well-entrenched institutional diversity requirements now that the grounding federal impetus has been removed. It’s become a very interesting conversation.

 

Why DEI Initiatives Matter

According to one of the panelists at a 2023 Johns Hopkins University symposium, DEI strategies, including AA, are still needed because class and race continue to influence how Americans live their daily lives. Natasha Warikoo, an author and Tufts University sociology professor, spoke specifically on how economic and other inequities impact Black families:

“When you compare a poor or working-class Black family with a poor or working-class white family, [data shows that] they often live in different kinds of neighborhoods. … The white family is more likely to live in a more mixed-income neighborhood and go to schools with higher levels of academic achievement than poor Black kids.”

Additionally, she notes, Black families are also well behind white families in generational wealth building. Black families experience a median household wealth status that is only 15% of that of white families, leaving those people with far fewer resources to achieve access to and success in higher education programs.

The Georgetown report underscores the validity of Warikoo’s conclusions and why continued enforcement of equity principles in higher education institutions is necessary. Note, here, that the report focuses on equity practices in the nation’s most elite schools, those that cost a lot but also produce (arguably) the best-educated population of graduates. These ‘selective’ (most competitive) schools set high academic benchmarks for incoming populations and typically keep seat availability low to ensure that they enroll only the best-qualified applicants. (‘Middle-tier’ schools are deemed simply ‘competitive,’ while open-access schools that accept almost every applicant are labeled as ‘less’ or ‘non-competitive.’)

While only a small percentage of all higher ed schools are deemed ‘selective’ (the report states that there are 498 such schools), their graduates are also often offered the highest-paid jobs, are often advanced at a faster pace, and have access to higher career options than do those graduates from less competitive schools. And, according to the data, race certainly appears to play a part in who has access to those seats.

According to the report, over the course of the decade between 2009 and 2019:

  • The percentage of ‘historically marginalized students’ (American Indian, Black, Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino, and African American) rose by a mere 5%, from 16% in 2009 to 21% in 2019.
  • Economically challenged learners also struggled to make it into the country’s top colleges. Learners with Pell Grants (who display exceptional financial need) accounted for only 24% of selective college populations but over 56% of open-access schools. Overall, students with more substantial financial bases (non-Pell Grant recipients) account for 58% of all higher educational enrollments.
  • Graduation rates also differ from selective to open-access schools, typically because wealthier learners don’t have the same financial concerns or distracting obligations as their less-wealthy classmates. Overall, 78% of selective school cohort groups graduate within 150% of the typical time allotment, while only 37% of the open-access learners are able to achieve that metric. Even in elite schools, Pell Grant recipients aren’t able to match the graduation rate of their more financially stable colleagues. While 80% of non-Pell Grant learners graduate on time, only 69% of the Grant-holding students are able to achieve that milestone.

The data indicates that, for the student population of selective colleges to match the race/ethnic/class distribution of the typical high school graduating class, and therefore achieve a truly equitable and diverse population:

  • the percentage of Black, Latino, and Indigenous persons needs to grow by 19%, and
  • the percentage of less wealthy learners needs to increase by 30%.

This data indicates that true equity remains elusive, at least in America’s top and most selective educational institutions. In these communities, the impact of AA initiatives appears to be minimal, which means that millions of highly intelligent, highly motivated learners do not have the opportunity to attain the best possible education available.

 

Achieving DEI Goals Without AA Mandates

There are many ways for schools to achieve a more equitable campus even after the end of the AA mandate. One organization offers a two-pronged strategy that embeds equitable education resources into instructional materials to address traditionally oppressive pedagogy while also providing meaningful and relevant content that uplifts all students.

The non-profit organization everylearnereverywhere identifies its strategy as ‘social justice education.’ It presents two strategies that teachers can implement in pursuit of the standards they’ve devised to achieve true social justice: anti-racist teaching and abolitionist teaching.

  • Anti-racist teaching expands on the practice of detailing the existence of societal inequities and how they evolved. In addition to those premises, teachers are encouraged to also discuss their particular experience with privilege, and how equitable and inequitable practices show up in their subject matter disciplines, research, industries, and communities. The curricula and practice help all learners to see not just the inequitable situations in their world but also track those impacts across multiple social sectors.
  • Abolitionist teaching encourages pursuing systemic change by dismantling traditional, typically inequitable curricula and replacing them with materials that embrace and highlight the successes and values provided to the community by the underrepresented populations. People lose their sense of ‘otherness’ when their community’s contributions to society are raised to an equal level of value and validity as those of their more affluent (and often white) neighbors. It seeks to ‘abolish’ the thought processes and social norms that perpetuate inequitable actions and outcomes.

 

There is probably no one response to the question asked at the beginning of this piece. However, the demise of Affirmative Action as a driving force for equity does compel that query. If, after all these years and the millions of dollars spent pursuing these goals, America has still not achieved a truly equitable and just society, then what else needs to be done to attain that objective? Further, to what extent is the country willing to continue on this path, given that the Supreme Court has removed the biggest legal driver of the initiative? While the answers to all these queries have yet to be determined, it appears that the processes and impetuses in place to achieve these goals remain active, relevant, and more critically important than ever before.

The Evolution of DEI Initiatives

Pam Sornson, JD on August 20, 2024

Despite decades of political, social, and legal directives, inequitable realities continue to permeate modern society. People of Color (PoC) and women are still negatively impacted by long-standing rules, regulations, and perspectives, regardless of mandates meant to change the practices that keep those inequities in place.

For 40+ years, America has attempted to address these challenges through “affirmative action” (AA) initiatives designed to reduce or eliminate discrimination based on skin color, gender, nationality, etc. By eliminating the inherent social biases that prevent these populations from reaching their personal goals, the government(s) intended for all their constituents to have access to the resources they needed to succeed in life. In 2023, however, the US Supreme Court struck down the portion of AA policies that apply to America’s colleges. The country’s higher education schools have struggled ever since to make sense of the new AA landscape created by that ruling.

 

The Life and Death of Affirmative Action

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order (EO) 10925 aimed at the federal contracting community. The EO mandated that all federal contractors must “… take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, …” The federal legislature extended the protection to the general public by enacting that year’s Civil Rights Act, which prohibits any large employer (over 15 employees) from discriminating against potential and actual hires based on those individual factors. In the intervening decades, states, courts, and governments all contributed new regulations designed to slow or prevent discriminatory practices by government entities and affiliates, corporations, and other socially significant systems.

Among the advances over time, the federal government has been expanding and modifying these protective orders and decisions:

  • Women were added to the ‘protected classes‘ list via President Johnson’s EO #11246 – 1971.
  • People with Disabilities were added by President Richard Nixon (the Rehabilitation Act of 1973). In 1990, President George HW Bush expanded their protections again by signing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • In 1979, President Jimmy Carter created a National Woman’s Business Enterprise Policy (1979) to compel better support for women-owned businesses by federal agencies.
  • in 1983, President Ronald Reagan directed federal agencies to develop plans for hiring and contracting with ‘Minority Business Enterprises.’ Conversely, in 1985, some in his administration also tried and failed to repeal EO #11246, which would have removed protections for women.
  • In 1991, President George HW Bush also signed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which added penalties and remedies for individuals intentionally discriminated against by employers, service providers, etc.
  • In 1998, both the US House of Representatives and Senate voted against pulling back laws that protected disadvantaged business owners and minority students applying for higher education opportunities.
  • In 2008, President George W Bush issued a revised Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act ensuring that equitable practices were updated to reflect more modern sentiments.

While the legislatures were at work, the nation’s courts were working to interpret the equity rules. Their varied decisions have created a crazy quilt of regulations and bans across the country:

By the 2000s, appellate courts nationwide were hearing cases related to discriminatory practices and activities in several arenas, including higher education. Their decisions reflect the polarity of the concern and indicate deep divides in opinion about the value of the initiative:

  • In 2000, the 10th Circuit Court upheld the federal Department of Transportation’s affirmative action activities, saying the rules ‘served a compelling state interest and were narrowly tailored’ to address discriminatory practices.
  • In 2002, the 6th Circuit Court determined that Michigan’s use of race in admissions decisions was acceptable and
  • that determination was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2003.
  • In 2008, Nebraska banned affirmative action by public entities, while Colorado voted to retain those legal protections in the same year.
  • In 2011, Arizona banned using affirmative action initiatives applied in public employment, education, and contracting systems.

The back-and-forth arguments about the appropriateness of using individual characteristics to lift up or push down ‘minorities’ (non-whites and females, primarily) continue and have gotten more heated over time. The striking down of the practice at the nation’s colleges by the Supreme Court in 2023 only added more angst to the conversation.

 

Why Affirmative Action Matters

Fundamentally, affirmative action policies seek to balance access to economic and social resources across all populations, regardless of age, gender, ability, color, or other unique identifiers. In practice, attaining that goal has been hard to achieve, as many people doubt whether favoring a particular person because of their color or gender, for example, creates the sought-after ‘inclusive community.’ Recent data suggests, however, that misconceptions about AA often also misdirect opinions and practices.

At a 2023 Johns Hopkins University debate, participants explored those misconceptions through the lens of higher education. They were able to clarify myth from fact, as well as articulate some of the often unspoken nuances of the impact on students of decisions based on race, gender, ability, etc.

Myths

  • Many people mistakenly believe that AA mandates racial quotas, meaning that schools will accept less-than-qualified applicants to fill their AA requirements. In fact, in 1978, the US Supreme Court banned the use of racial quotas in the acceptance process if it resulted in the denial of white students’ opportunity to compete for those openings.
  • Another myth busted was related to who actually benefits from AA initiatives on campus. While many believe only those who’ve attained access because of AA practices enjoy elevated educational experiences, studies show that the whole school benefits from a more diverse student population through improved racial attitudes, enhanced civic engagement, and heightened academic engagement.

Unexpected Nuances

The Johns Hopkins panel also discussed the unexpected consequences of AA-driven practices and strategies. One panelist clarified the point well: students who work hard and attain all appropriate educational benchmarks can still be denied entry to college because of race; the AA student takes that seat instead. At the same time, those learners who receive the AA seat may forever wonder if they got to college because of their hard work – or because of the color of their skin.

Another panel member commented with dismay on how some colleges have constructed their AA representation. While the goal is to provide access to higher-level education for economically disadvantaged students, some elite schools have ‘fulfilled’ their AA mandate simply by adding wealthy people from protected populations, which does not achieve the goal of true diversity.

 

Ultimately, the conversation clarified that only 200 to 300 ‘selective’ colleges (where students must pass rigorous standards reviews to enroll) were using AA to guide enrollment decisions, so it isn’t as big a challenge across the country as some might think. (California voted to ban the use of AA as a selection tool in 1996.) Now that the policy has been struck down completely, schools are again assessing how to address the inequities still suffered by POC, women, differently-abled students, etc., as they seek to improve their lives through education.

 

Community College as Career Center: Non-traditional Resources for Occupational Success

Pam Sornson, JD on August 6, 2024

Program pre-requisites. Transfer credits. Internships. Work-based learning. Language development. Apprenticeships. Entrepreneurial support. All these resources and more are available to learners at today’s community colleges.

 

One Goal. Many Pathways.

Over the decades, higher education institutions have added programs and courses to reflect changes in local economies, populations, industrial evolutions, and other impactful societal events. With each iteration, the schools became more finely tuned to the needs of their constituents: their students and the businesses and industries that would hire them. That trend continues today.

Today’s evolving ‘college student’ demographic is compelling similar alterations in ‘doing educational business.’ Modern college learners are often older, usually more experienced, and definitely more focused on academic success than were previous populations. Schools are adapting their activities and offerings to support this diverse group as it wends its way through both classes and life challenges to find optimal careers and lifestyles.

One strategy that is rising as a primary structure for these learners is to provide ‘non-typical’ educational and training opportunities through campus-based resources. Emerging modalities that haven’t always been accepted as ‘college’ activities are growing in popularity as their efficacy and relevance increase. Students are no longer constricted by traditional (and often limiting) program styles of in-class attendance and required papers and projects. While those teaching methods are all very much present, today’s evolving educational panoply also includes training methods and recognition opportunities that have, until recently, been relatively rare to find in a higher education setting.

 

Maximizing Life’s Lessons – Competency-Based Learning

The higher education system is embracing the reality that many people arrive at a college opportunity with sometimes years of experience and knowledge. Those previously acquired resources can provide a foundation for the new student’s educational path, often eliminating the need for time- and money-wasting pre-requites. Rather than simply note this fact on the record, some schools are making efforts to measure and quantify these values so the learner builds on them as they craft their educational journey.

One way to capture these values is to provide assessment resources that will identify and highlight them. A problem that arises at this point is that too few people know to ask for the assessment, believing that their experiences haven’t developed marketable skills. The reality is that almost any activity can provide employment skills; those looking to enhance their knowledge base through higher education should assess how their existing talents and skill sets are already feeding their career-pursuit dream.

Early Employment

Early employment experience offers more than just hands-on job skills (think cash machine mastery, customer service scripts, etc.). It also allows the worker to explore work options that are best suited to their personalities and preferences. Many people opt out of training for occupations they didn’t enjoy so they can pursue futures filled with work activities they do enjoy. Assessing these preferences early in the higher ed process facilitates a better educational fit and also a more likely opportunity for student success.

On-the-job Certifications

Many occupations require workers to attain specific skillsets tuned precisely for the job at hand. In many cases, they must also demonstrate mastery of these skills to certify that they are, indeed, capable of performing the work. The resulting certifications can become the basis for a higher education career pathway, acting as foundational assets to further and more in-depth learning.

Service Learning

Some people mistakenly believe that only paid employment generates potentially valuable work skills. In reality, volunteering often offers similar or even enhanced career-type skills while also providing insight into the worker’s character. Unlike a paid employee, volunteers intentionally bring a good attitude, a willingness to work hard, and a teamwork spirit to their effort. They undertake the activities because they want to do them and not because they need a paycheck. Skills attained through volunteering are as credible and viable as those gained through paid work experience.

Military Service

Many people don’t recognize the educational value of their military experience. While the focus of a military enlistment is to further government objectives and not necessarily those of the soldier, those activities definitely provide job and thinking skills that transfer into other arenas in life. Further, while many former military positions aren’t replicable in civilian life, certainly the work skills of punctuality, critical thinking, and teamwork are highly valued by most employers in the non-military economy.

 

Maximizing Career/Classroom Resources

In addition to class and program work, colleges also offer other forms of occupational learning that some potential students aren’t aware of or don’t believe are appropriate for their preferred education track. In many of today’s higher ed courses, hands-on learning is built into the program’s curricula.

Career Technical Education

Many schools offer training for specific occupations – ‘career technical education (CTE)’ – not just academic study for bachelor’s degrees. In fact, many jobs derived from a CTE perspective attract non-traditional learners simply because they are aimed at those distinct populations. Federal funding through Carl D. Perkins grants provides training programs for people with disabilities, single parents, former foster youth, and other groups with challenges that would struggle in a traditional educational program.

Apprenticeships

The use of apprenticeships in higher education is groing because of their capacity to quickly and comprehensively train a worker for a specific job at a specific company. Apprenticeships attained through a higher education portal are typically designed by both the school and the enterprise to ensure the learner achieves all appropriate goals to graduate successfully and find work. In addition to exposure to work-related nuances, apprentices also enjoy the input and support from their work colleagues and mentors.

Entrepreneurialism

Even those who don’t want to work for someone else’s company can gain valuable career experience and information by engaging with the entrepreneurial entities in their region, many of which are embedded in the collegiate constellation of resources. The Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a federally funded agency, focuses on helping individuals launch and grow their businesses by providing both tangible (funding, documentation, etc.) and intangible (advice, strategic planning, etc.) assets to would-be business owners. The fact that so many entrepreneurial companies are opening in the post-COVID era indicates that America’s workforce is branching out into new, uniquely personal avenues of economic growth.

Many of today’s colleges are expanding their nontraditional education offerings as more nontraditional workers flood their campuses. By doing so, they are assisting not just their student body in finding the work and careers they want but also their community in finding stronger, more sustainable economic growth by engaging with a larger percentage of its population.

 

A New Avenue for Community Colleges: Serving ‘Adults’

Pam Sornson, JD on August 6, 2024

Today’s colleges are attracting whole new communities of learners, many of whom are over 25 years old, have jobs and families, and are juggling all the responsibilities those realities entail. For some of these ‘first time on campus’ explorers, attending college at any level is a lifelong dream; for others, completing a program launched long ago is the attainment of a long-held goal. This populace – the now identified generation of ‘adult’ learners – is growing on college campuses across the country, and the support they need to succeed is decidedly different from that of their younger, less encumbered classmates. Schools that offer the services necessary to accommodate this community will be certain to help them attain their unique constellation of academic and career objectives.

 

Different Perspectives Require Innovative Supports

Most higher education schools today were designed to support the ‘typical’ college student: someone who

  • recently graduated from high school,
  • is perhaps still living with their parents
  • with few, if any, other time or resource obligations and
  • (most significantly) has an unfettered opportunity to choose their future from among many academic options.

Accordingly, most schools’ services are geared toward helping these younger learners navigate the myriad of selections to a certification or degree.

Not so with the incoming classes of 2024 and beyond,  half of whom qualify as ‘adult’ learners (over 21 years). These students appear on campus with a completely different set of objectives and expectations:

  • They have a definite goal in mind, whether it’s upgrading their current skill set, achieving a new credential, or launching the career path they’ve been dreaming of for years.
  • Many also have a more focused approach to the mechanics of their course of study. They want to know who their professors are and to ensure they’ll have the time they need with those professionals to glean maximum value from their educational activities.
  • They’re more self-aware than their younger cohorts, too. Their relative maturity versus that of less experienced learners informs both their academic choices as well as the processes they must follow to achieve those.
  • And many are very, very ‘consumer savvy.’ Because they’ve already experienced real-world finances – they’ve made large purchases (houses, vehicles), balanced budgets, and lived within financial constraints – they seek value for their education dollar. They are more pointed in their support requests than their younger, less accomplished cohorts.

Not surprisingly, the support systems in place for a less sophisticated population aren’t sufficient to meet the needs of these older, wiser educational adventurers. Even while they’re more experienced with ‘real world’ realities, they may not be so in tune with today’s college outreach and connection systems. A recent survey offers insights on the challenges schools must overcome just to get them on campus:

  • Communications that are geared to today’s digitally-immersed students might not work for the older population. Web-based information and resources may not be as intuitively easy to follow for the adult learner as they are for younger students. Communication channels may require modifications to ensure that all learners can find the information and guidance they seek.
  • Like their younger classmates, this group is also unfamiliar with all the school’s resources. Colleges today provide both academic and career-focused training options; too many learners (of all ages) don’t know about or know how to explore available Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities.
  • Inadvertent barriers may impede their progress, too, and schools can offer incentives to help them avoid losing their dream to an unnecessary challenge. Reduced tuition, financial support for books, child care, food, etc., flexible class times (including online options), and even access to academic and health-based counseling are attractive enticements for people who may find the effort required to juggle these elements too daunting to overcome.

Adding or modifying existing systems to accommodate these concerns will help both the learner and the school achieve their respective successes.

 

Acknowledge Accomplishments

Another avenue to academic success is available to this cohort group that is not in play with their younger classmates. Most of the adult student population arrives on campus with an existing panoply of skills, talents, and experiences. Some may have been attained in a school setting, but most of their inherent academic assets have been gained simply from living their lives. They’ve managed home, child, and family obligations; they developed occupational skills while actually on the job; they’ve paid taxes, bills, and debts. They enter the classroom with many foundational skills in place. Schools seeking to enroll more of them might consider offering acknowledgment, credit for, or certification for their varied accomplishments.

In some cases, these learners have attended college or upper-level educational resources but have not achieved a credential for doing so. As of July 2022, over 36 million adult students identified as “Some College, No Credential” (SCNC). These ‘re-enrollees’ are coming back to finish what they started. Data shows they persist better than other learner groups, and those entering to complete a program earn credentials at twice the rate of those who re-enter earlier in the program’s progress. It is critical for these learners to receive credit for those previous educational efforts as they move toward achieving that aspiration.

Those without prior college experience also arrive with a unique set of skills and abilities gleaned from living a busy life. Often, these skillsets were learned on the job, and they retain their value for future employment, too. Most students appreciate having the opportunity to receive “Credit for Prior Learning,” and schools can assess their enhanced capacities by providing specialized testing in some cases or simply acknowledging the attainment of those assets through prior occupations, such as military service.

This crowd also benefits when the school helps them align their career objectives with existing labor market realities. In some cases, training focused on attaining digital skills is all that’s needed to connect a particular adult learner with their optimal occupation and employer. In other instances, retraining is necessary to bring the skill base current with today’s labor force demands. Adult learners are more apt to engage and complete such programs when they also receive credit for bringing with them the elements that are the foundation for that new perspective.

 

Today’s busy global, national, and regional markets are in flux as technologies and industries evolve. Many older workers seeking a new path forward are considering going back to school to upskill their talents. Those who will find the most success will do so by connecting with colleges that have adapted their support services to meet the needs of this unique and diverse population.

 

Entrepreneurs: Foundational. Inspirational.

Pam Sornson, JD on July 16, 2024

Virtually every business began as an idea. Someone somewhere had a problem with no apparent resolution, so they invented a fix for their issue that turned out to be a good idea for others. The newly minted ‘entrepreneur’ then turned that idea into a business, which attracted customers, and – BOOM! – economic growth began. Consequently, entrepreneurs, the visionaries who see not just what could happen but also look for ways to make it happen, are central to America’s economy and, by extension, its economic growth and prosperity, too.

 

The Entrepreneur: A Unique Economic Force

At heart, the entrepreneur is a risk taker. These enterprising individuals step away from traditional employment processes and pursue an original path toward their personal goals and aspirations. Experts at the Harvard Business School define ‘entrepreneurialism’ as “the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled,” with ‘beyond sources controlled’ meaning a constraint of available resources. These forward thinkers look beyond immediate or existing materials or options to find an improvement to what’s available or to develop a totally new response to a concern. By doing so, they take on risks that don’t appear in front of traditionally employed people:

A financial risk that arises as they contribute their own funds (which they might not recoup) or seek start-up funding (which may have to be paid back), then extends as the product or service evolves and is launched.

A technological risk that requires the product or service around which the business is built to actually achieve the solution it promises. Both its design and construction must be adequate to support the weight of growing consumer demand.

An execution risk that mandates establishing a functioning corporate team that can manage the launch from design through to market.

A demand risk that the buying public is looking for and will buy this particular new product or service.

For many people, these risks are too daunting to consider, so they choose not to pursue the entrepreneurial option as their life’s work.

For others, however, being ‘one’s own boss’ is the epitome of the American Dream. These creatives absorb the four risks as ‘the cost of doing [the entrepreneurial] business’ and move forward despite the potential losses those might incur. By doing so, they step into a critical role in the success of their community and its economy.

 

High Value Justifies High Risk

Entrepreneurs do more than just run businesses, and their contributions to the local, regional, and national economic landscape are significant:

New businesses need new workers, so entrepreneurs also often offer new workforce opportunities.

Their insights about existing products or services frequently trigger new and improved ways of doing things, so they also add innovation to the community.

New products frequently compel the ‘retirement’ of legacy or obsolete resources. Upgrades and updates often translate into improved product quality and higher customer satisfaction.

Often, a new company develops because of and provides service for populations that might not have access to similar resources. Social stressors, economic downturns, and legacy diversity concerns often hinder economic growth in certain neighborhoods. An entrepreneur who seeks to remedy that situation can develop a whole new consumer base, free from the constraints of competition.

Not least, the competition presented by the new company to existing entities within the same market often stimulates improved business efficiencies for both, which can also reduce product or service prices, too.

All of these realities underscore the entrepreneur’s value to the community. New businesses add assets and commodities to the economy while also building its labor force and expanding its resource base.

 

Entrepreneurial Efforts in Changing Times

Today’s entrepreneurial adventurer accepts the abovementioned risks as everyday occurrences within their business-building strategy. What they might not be prepared for or familiar with, however, are the vast changes occurring in today’s markets and industries that are influencing entrepreneurial opportunities. The post-COVID economy is decidedly different from that of five years ago, and both the market and the workforce have changed:

Consumers have evolved. They, too, have embraced today’s advanced digital tools and now expect their product and service suppliers to provide precisely what they want exactly when and where they want it. They are also becoming more invested in long-term relationships with the makers of the products and services they love. In addition to offering a unique and new product, today’s entrepreneurs must also master the tools that connect their companies to their ever-evolving customer base.

Securing the ‘talent’ needed to launch and manage the company is becoming more challenging. ‘Talent’ refers to the population of industry specialists who add the nuance and innovation needed to set the new product apart from its competition. Because of the rapid evolution of technology, many subject matter experts are not also experts in the technologies that are disrupting their industry. Many companies – entrepreneurial or not – are having difficulties finding workers and leaders who have both industrial acumen and technological insight.

The rise of technology – analytics, data lakes, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), etc. – has upended every industry. Many occupations are now obsolete, and new technologically-based jobs have emerged despite the lack of qualified workers to fill those positions.

Within these parameters of changing circumstances and technological evolution, it’s a wonder that anyone follows through on their entrepreneurial dreams.

And yet, follow through they do. The calendar year 2023 was a boom year for new business openings, even after taking the pandemic’s contraction into consideration. The Home Services sector grew by 32%, with the hotels and travel sector close behind at 28%. Event services and automotives each grew by ~23%, and beauty services, active life organizations, and local service company sectors all posted percentage growth in the teens.

Notably, many of the purveyors of these new companies are from underrepresented communities. In 2023, LGBTQ+ business owners opened 33% more businesses than they did in 2022, and Black and Latino company founders launched 28% more entities than they did in 2022. Data indicates that the population of minority entrepreneurs has grown by over 35% in the past decade, contributing ~$700 billion to the nation’s economy over that time period.

 

Entrepreneurs have played a critical role in developing today’s national and global economies. The continued popularity of the business-ownership trend is equally essential for future economic growth, too.

 

Entrepreneurs: Innovative. Creative. Increasingly Female.

Pam Sornson, JD on July 16, 2024

To some, it was obvious that the COVID-driven demise of thousands of jobs would also open doors to new business opportunities. Companies closing left consumer needs unmet, and millions of courageous individuals seized the moment to fill those market gaps with their entrepreneurial goods and services. A significant percentage of those individuals are women, and they are raising the profile of the female entrepreneur higher than it’s ever been.

The markets they entered, however, have evolved significantly in those short four years. These newly minted enterprises are now navigating equally new pathways to economic success and redefining those processes as they go. Adding support to their efforts: Pasadena City College’s Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) has just opened its Women’s Business Center to ensure that both established and emerging female business leaders have all the resources they need to launch and grow a successful organization.

 

It’s a New Day for Entrepreneurs

How work gets done in 2024 is decidedly different from how those goals were achieved just four short years ago. To succeed, today’s business owners must meld decades-old legacy systems with tomorrow’s cutting-edge technologies and evolving consumer expectations. The challenges they face are significant.

  • Technology alone has rendered many formerly foundational functions obsolete while also offering new capacities and capabilities. The latest digital tools, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming, have revolutionized occupations and industries at a pace that far exceeds that of related regulatory and governance standards. Many organizations struggle through transitions from outdated models to current options.
  • Advancing technology not only streamlines existing processes, it also facilitates whole new ways of ‘going to work.’ The ‘gig’ economy (hiring workers for individual projects, not as full- or part-time staff), flexible working arrangements, and remote work, in general, are now commonplace. Companies experience a variety of benefits that arise from this ‘distributed workforce‘ model, including lower office maintenance fees and increased productivity. A notable change for workers: many in this new form of workforce rarely, if ever, meet their colleagues face-to-face.
  • E-commerce is also on the rise, as more organizations aim their sales pitches directly at consumers, bypassing virtual or actual store-front intermediaries. The absence of intermediary boundaries between sellers and buyers gives the entrepreneur more control over the customer relationship – and the data generated by those interactions.
  • A ubiquitous online presence coupled with almost instantaneous communication channels also facilitates collaboration and co-creation among entrepreneurs. Strategic partnerships are born when the ‘cog’ of one small business meets the ‘wheel’ of another, often in the same industry, but not always. These emerging ecosystems clarify the distinctions between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ ways of working and producing, giving both entities access to the broader toolset of the combined pair.

The skillsets needed to implement and manage these innovations are also, in many cases, new to the business and even the industry. Any company that upgrades its technology will also need to upgrade its technology support capacities. AI, in particular, is driving a huge push to develop responsive training programs and protocols as its suite of software programs is so different from (literally) everything that came before. Ironically, many AI and related technology courses are now offered through digital portals, which themselves need development or upgrades to be effective.

Regardless of the gender of their owner, newly launched companies must consider these and many other factors as they work to establish their mark in their new ‘economic neighborhood.’

 

Women Leading the Way

Recent data reveals that women are having a significant and profound impact on the post-COVID economy. According to research conducted by Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP):

  • The number of women-owned businesses nearly doubled that of men-owned companies between 2019 and 2023.
  • Almost 40% (39.1) of all American-based businesses are now owned by women. Over 14 million such companies employ over 12 million workers.
  • The female-led business community alone contributes $2.7 trillion in revenues to the U.S. economy annually.

In fact, the corporate advances made by women throughout and past the pandemic were markedly more impressive than those of men:

  • In 2020, while the world was shutting down, women opened more companies than they closed, while the number of male-owned organizations declined.
  • Women also added 1.4 million jobs during the pandemic, which, in turn, contributed almost $580 billion to the national economy.
  • Over the course of the COVID era (2019 – 2023):
    • the growth rate of women-led firms surpassed that of men by 94%,
    • the rate of employment by female- versus male-owned companies grew by 252%, and
    • the growth rate for revenues generated by women-owned businesses exceeded 80%.

The findings are notable, too, because of the industries in which these advances by female business leaders are being made. Branching out from their ‘standard’ corporate presence (beauty, pet care, and healthcare), women are opening companies in industries where their presence as leaders was previously limited, such as security and surveillance services, legal agencies, and mental and physical health professionals. The finance, real estate, and insurance sectors have seen the most post-COVID growth in the number of women-owned companies.

 

Pasadena City College (PCC) Provides Focused Support for Women Entrepreneurs

The federal government has also focused on expanding the – business ownership opportunity to more women in more industries. Through the auspices of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), PCC’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) (a pillar within its Economic and Workforce division) received funding for one of only 17 Women’s Business Centers (WBC) established nationwide. Of those 17, 13 are based in Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), a U.S. Department of the Interior program. PCC is the only community college in the country to be awarded Women’s Center funding.

In coordination with the SBDC’s already notable success, the WBC will offer services tailored specifically to meet the unique needs of women entrepreneurs. Counseling, training, and technical assistance related to business ownership—financial management, start-up concerns, and marketing, as examples—are provided for free to any woman-owned enterprise, offering support and strategy where it’s needed most. The federal government reports that the number of loans made to women-owned companies is surging and now tops $5 billion per year.

 

The COVID pandemic and its fallout have compelled all company owners to adapt their efforts to address the market, labor, and consumer evolutions that have occurred since 2020. Added focus and funding for female leaders, in particular, both levels the corporate playing field with men while also harnessing uniquely feminine assets and values that have yet to be fully embraced within the corporate sector.

 

Future of Work: Registered Apprentice Programs

Pam Sornson, JD on July 2, 2024

For decades, there has been a divide between learning and working. Educational systems promulgated processes that compelled people to choose to either work or go to school but didn’t give them the option to do both at the same time. That reality is changing as the burgeoning economy demands more on-the-line workers, even while the supply of that skilled workforce is currently insufficient.

One response to the challenge is to develop apprenticeship opportunities across industries that train new workers while they’re actually on the job. Utilizing apprenticeships is a historically proven labor-development practice that ensures both a well-trained workforce and a well-employed community. Filling open positions with trainees, rather than waiting until after all training is complete, improves teaching program outcomes, adds valuable resources to the enterprise, and increases employment levels throughout the community. Today, the U.S. federal government is championing its Registered Apprentice Program (RAP) to provide critical connections between the companies needing qualified employees and the eager learners who are looking to fill those positions.

 

America’s Registered Apprentice Program

Administered through the federal Department of Labor (DOL), the RAP gives employers tools and resources to develop the precise style of apprenticeship program that works for their enterprise. It also provides resources for learners who are seeking an apprenticeship.

For Employers/Sponsors:

The RAP uses Registered Apprentice Industry Intermediaries to collect, assess, and educate on apprenticeship opportunities within individual industries. Companies looking to build apprenticeships within their infrastructure can get guidance and technical support from these professionals on establishing and managing employment opportunities for potential apprentices.

The RAP’s ‘Occupational Outlook Handbook‘ provides data and strategies that can direct the details of an apprenticeship, such as entry-level educational drivers, median pay ranges, and even job projections for that position. The handbook parses out ‘occupational groups’ by industry and effort, recognizing that some jobs are valued in many (sometimes all) industries. Apprenticeships for legal, financial, and management positions straddle virtually every sector, while those for architecture and engineering, as examples, will attract a much narrower segment of potential applicants.

The handbook also offers:

a ‘Teachers Guide‘ for the education professionals who work with apprentices in the classroom, and

Subject Area Categories that inform future employers about managing their apprentices, including data on potential pay and benefits, productivity, workplace injuries, and other occupationally relevant issues.

The RAP’s ‘Partner Finder‘ resource connects parties interested in apprenticeships in any capacity.

Employers can actively search for entities that share common industrial traits to find a likely pool of apprentice candidates. Entering occupationally significant keywords and geographical locations into the database flags partnership options that are relevant to the inquiry.

RAP Sponsors are organizations that operate an apprenticeship program. They are responsible for designing apprentice options, overseeing training and development activities, and offering learners hands-on learning and technical instruction for their chosen occupation. They frequently operate also as collaborators with their community colleagues, including schools, industry agencies, and economic organizations.

The RAP’s Standards Builder provides the tools Sponsors need to establish a registered apprentice program within their organization. This resource offers a unique series of tools that combine the requirements of both the employing enterprise and the educational institution that provides the coursework for the position.

The Requirements for Apprenticeship Sponsors Reference Guide walks employers through the apprenticeship development process to ensure they – and the learner – access all available resources.

The Standards Builder User Guide secures the connection between the employer and the DOL, which assures the federal agency that the Sponsor is acting appropriately within the scope of the RAP structure.

Sponsors agree to follow the protocols required by the DOL while also addressing issues that arise within the school setting, including following up on and incorporating the applicant’s previous work experience as an element of the educational credential they’ll eventually receive. Through the RAP, the DOL also offers industry-focused experts who advise company owners about the myriad of nuances involved in establishing apprenticeship opportunities for their organization.

 

For Future Apprentices:

People seeking career training opportunities will find many valuable resources on the RAP website. Services provide direction for potential apprentices from all walks of life, including those who may struggle to find work otherwise:

The website lets users find available jobs and save their job search data, acting as a continuous resource for employment searches. Job seeking can be nationwide or local, directed to specific industries or occupations, or focused on finding an apprenticeship program rather than a job.

Many apprentices are new to the workforce, such as high school or college graduates. They come with few or no skills but offer the employer a ‘blank slate’ to gain the exact worker they need.

Some have faced barriers that prevented their entry into the workforce, including prior incarceration. The RAP opportunity provides resources that help this population find a new life and promising future through apprenticeships.

Its Clean Slate Clearinghouse helps formerly incarcerated individuals ‘clean up’ their criminal record by connecting them to lawyers who can help expunge or mitigate convictions found in publicly accessed permanent databases. Removing these aspects from public view (where possible and appropriate) allows the newly freed community member to avoid being unnecessarily excluded from work opportunities.

RAP’s Reentry Employment Opportunities Program (REO) provides resources directly to entities willing to work with and hire formerly incarcerated people as apprentices or in other employment positions. The focus is on assisting the individual to assimilate back into the community as a contributing and valuable community member.

Service members and veterans also gain resources through the RAP. This population often brings a unique set of skills from their military experience, some of which are not transferable to a civilian occupation. Transitioning any skillset from one employment arena to another takes knowledge and strategy. The RAP combines its opportunities with those already available to these service members, including the GI Bill®, the Veteran’s Readiness and Employment Program for workers with service-connected injuries, and the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeships, which offers resources for former service members with disabilities.

 

The demand for a better-skilled workforce is driven by the multitude of factors that are now impacting America: a fluctuating economy, a wealth of emerging technologies, and an almost unlimited roster of occupational opportunities. Apprenticeships offer a nuanced response to many of the challenges presented by those factors while also allowing the flexibility required to gain precisely the labor force assets that are needed. Embracing the apprenticeship option can reduce or eliminate altogether the divide between education and occupation.

 

Apprenticeships – What, Why, & How

Pam Sornson, JD on July 2, 2024

Emerging technology is advancing the American economy in complex and comprehensive ways, and the country’s industrial foundation is struggling to keep up with the changes. Not only are tried-and-true skill sets being rendered obsolete, but resources for upskilling and retraining the workforce are few and far between (at least, so far). Employers needing workers capable of managing the convoluted realities of newly automated systems and workflows are hard-pressed to find them in today’s post-pandemic labor pool.

The situation has triggered a renaissance in work-based learning and on-the-job training programs, with a growing emphasis on apprenticeships. Even the federal government is funding access to and provisioning of these ‘learn while you earn’ opportunities because of the unmatched growth opportunities they represent for the country.

 

The What: Apprenticeships Built America

The practice of developing a workforce ‘on the job’ springs from European feudal origins, and its success as an economic driver embedded it into early North American society as a valuable industrial tool. An apprentice signed on with a ‘master craftsman’ (any tradesperson willing to take on the responsibility of the teacher/trainer role) for up to seven years, learning how to do the work as well as the nuances of its business and administration. When complete, the new ‘journeyman’ tradesperson was free to open a new business under their own name. Benjamin Franklin (printing and publishing) and Paul Revere (silver smithing) both began their careers as apprentices, which underscores how the practice developed not just skills but also skilled business people and leaders.

While its usage dropped off over time with the rise of schools, colleges, and ‘higher education’ options, the inherent value of an apprenticeship remained and is rising again as the current economy struggles to find needed talent in its insufficient and often un-trained (for today’s needs) labor pool.  Nowadays, an apprenticeship is just one of several avenues learners can pursue as they face a sometimes overwhelming array of job and career decisions. For many, the position offers the exact right level of training, work experience, and occupational freedom.

 

The Why: Traditional Education Resources Lack Occupational Focus

The data tells a straightforward story about why on-the-job training is so valuable to so many business owners and their apprenticing staff. A recent Burning Glass study reveals that ‘traditional’ higher education offerings no longer provide or sustain the increase in personal growth and wealth that they once did. An analysis of over 60 million survey responses was stark in its findings: as many as 45% of all college graduates were underemployed ten years after their graduation, a factor that calls into question whether the learning they received was worth the tuition they paid. It suggests that the education provided through the standard high school-to-college process doesn’t also provide the lifestyle those learners seek.

Employers these days are also aware of the skills gap that exists within the college-based talent pool they’re seeing compared to the skill sets they need in their enterprise. Consequently, they are increasingly looking for ‘skill-based’ resumes, not ‘degree-based’ schooling, as they seek to fill the millions of open job positions that dot the nation. The hiring system, however, isn’t yet designed to connect businesses with this population of technologically savvy workers who don’t carry the credentials necessary to attain many of today’s technology-based jobs.

Learners, too, are aware that a straight-up college education might not provide them with the lives they wish to live. A study by the non-profit Educational Credit Management Corporation shows that while half (51%) of today’s high school students are considering going to college, that number is a full ten percentage points lower than it was before COVID-19 hit in 2020. And, of those young respondents, two-thirds (65%) believe that occupational training and learning ‘should’ be done on the job, through internships and apprenticeships, not through traditional college attendance.

The flood of technology into all aspects of the work world has ramped up the demand for well-trained digital technicians, many of whom couldn’t or didn’t develop those skills through traditional college courses or programs. Without those credentials, these learners struggle to find work even though they actually have many of the precise skills that are in such high demand. Schools seeking to maintain enrollment numbers must figure out how to capture and credential these future workers if they intend to remain relevant and profitable.

 

The How: Colleges as Apprenticeship Incubators

In response to these developments, colleges are now ramping up both their technical skills training programs as well as their partnerships with businesses willing to mentor apprentices. By doing so, they are expanding their roles within the economy by providing three foundational services within the apprenticeship and workforce development sector:

As a training provider: On-the-job skills often flow from and integrate with occupational theory; students learn how their emerging skill set advances occupational or corporate goals. Schools have the resources needed to offer this type of cerebral education, while corporate partners provide learners with hands-on, in-the-shop experience.

As a broker between tradesperson and apprentice: The demands of running a business frequently override a business owner’s opportunity to find an appropriate apprenticeship candidate. When working together, the school and the company can define skills, talents, and other relevant work-related criteria that the school can use to attract and direct an appropriate talent pool of potential apprentices.

As an administrator of a formal apprentice development practice such as the Registered Apprentice Program. The U.S. Department of Labor oversees this workforce development strategy that connects future workers with both the training and the employers they seek. As a ‘registered’ apprenticeship, the role guarantees an optimal educational experience that provides the precise scope of training activities and modules needed for the occupation, including:

structured on-the-job instruction designed for the specific job at hand;

supplemental training and education designed to address the needs of the employer and their company;

a safe place to learn while working;

industry-based skills that are currently in demand, and

the credentials needed to find, land, and succeed in the job or career of the learner’s choice.

By stepping into any one of these three roles, today’s colleges are addressing workforce development demands head-on, assisting both their students and their neighboring businesses to succeed in these challenging economic times.

 

The country is struggling to find the well-trained workforce it needs. Today’s colleges are embracing their role as ‘workforce developers’ and are rising to that challenge. They are reinventing themselves as full-service labor force training grounds that provide all varieties of learning opportunities, not just campus-based theory and academics.

Optimizing College Services for Adult Learners

Pam Sornson, JD on June 14, 2024

With the influx of so many ‘adult’ learners flooding college campuses these days, it’s a challenge for any institution to keep up with the evolving sets of metrics that that population is expecting. While each individual student poses their own unique set of needs for a successful college journey, as a group, these ‘mature’ learners present a decidedly different trajectory than their younger, less evolved class cohorts. And in many cases, the services they need to succeed are not yet offered as an integral aspect of the higher education strategy.

Fortunately for the learners (and colleges in general), scholars studying the situation have identified where this population needs assistance and how schools can respond to those realities. To ensure the success of this particular student demographic, schools must adapt their processes and programs to fit the current and evolving educational requirements of their older, more experienced learners.

 

 

Barriers and Bonuses: Adult Learners Find Both

The uptick in the number of ‘mature’ students on college campuses indicates a shift in thought about the value of education.

Bonuses:

In some cases, life circumstances have changed and people now have both the resources and the time opportunity to pursue the new goal. In other cases, an existing career requires upskilling or additional training, or the thought of entrepreneurship has finally been prioritized. Even retirees are returning to college classrooms seeking to enhance their lives with more money, more knowledge, or both.

Barriers:

However, the way schools are set up now presents significant challenges to many of these students.

Class calendars often follow the typical school schedule of weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm. Many adult learners have other obligations during these hours that prevent them from attending.

The cost of college can also be prohibitive to a successful college career for adult students. Often, their personal financial situation isn’t conducive to taking on the expenses of tuition and books. Sometimes, their effort is stalled because of the (expensive) need to achieve prerequisites before approaching the desired subject matter. In still other cases, the opportunity for financial aid isn’t clear or hasn’t been shared with them, so they’re unaware of the availability of those support services.

Not least imposing is the technical nature of today’s campuses. Much of the communication between school and student and teacher and student is through digital devices, most of which require relatively sophisticated knowledge about ‘apps’ and related technology. In many cases, older students aren’t aware of the technologies involved or aren’t confident in their ability to master them.

The number of adult learners motivated by the bonuses and not put off by the barriers to higher education is growing, and their presence is significant in colleges around the country. In 2022, almost one in four (23%) of all college students in America were over the age of 25, underscoring the importance to the school of amending the types and levels of services needed to support this burgeoning sector of their student body.

 

 

Opening Educational Doors for Adult Learners

From the school’s perspective, modifying existing service streams to better serve the adult learner population should be a no-brainer. As it has been with all their constituents, easing the pathways into, through, and beyond the higher education experience for the older student both fulfills their mandates as public resources while also cementing their foundation as a critical element of society. Fortunately for college administrators, a noted industry expert offers insights and guidance on how to best serve these learners.

Inside Higher Ed (IHE)

Owned by Times Higher Education, IHE is the higher ed industry’s premier source for information and insights into educational best practices, trends, and more. Its 2023 report, Modernizing Postsecondary Policy to Better Support Adult Learners, specifically addresses how existing policies and practices impede the institution’s ability to better serve this population. It also includes suggestions and steps those schools can take to remediate those barriers for their students. By reworking how higher education resources are offered to optimize the educational success of this group (and other marginalized groups) of learners, the national college network as a whole can generate up to $100 billion each year in increased workforce productivity value.

The IHE suggests five focuses for schools and their constituents to address the unmet needs of their adult learner students:

Credit Transfer Pathways allow those (many, many) students who have some college credits but no college credentials to retain the value of those past courses in pursuit of their new and next educational goals.

Credit for Prior Learning is also an enticing element for adult learners. People who’ve mastered career skills should have those skillsets recognized as they apply them to new subject matters.

Flexible funding options are also critical to the return-to-school project for adult learners. Today, a myriad of obsolete rules and standards render some potential learners ineligible for student loans or other supportive avenues to financial resources.

Current Labor Market statistics should also be part of the reconfiguration process. ‘Workforce training’ was not the basis of educational funding until very recently, yet the demand for workers is pushing these schools to deliver exactly that asset: a well-trained workforce.

Not least significant is the need to provide services tailored to the needs of these older students. ‘Emergency Financial Aid’ opportunities, for example, that can be used to cover childcare costs, transportation, etc., can prevent a drop-out situation when the learner experiences the need for this type of resource (which many will).

A college education offers much more than just additional information and knowledge. It also facilitates improved work opportunities, career options, and enhanced financial capacities. More ‘older’ people recognize these realities than ever before, and today’s colleges are their first and best choice for attaining those assets. Schools can improve their bottom line and community profile by better serving this burgeoning population of adult learners.

Adult Learners: Maximizing the Opportunities

Pam Sornson, JD on June 14, 2024

While the vast majority of college students are technically ‘adults’ (over 18 years old), there are age-related strata within that population that distinguish one group of ‘grown-ups’ from another. Traditionally, the typical college student enters straight from high school or perhaps after a ‘gap year.’ Often, these learners have little or no life experience, may not have held a job, and usually don’t carry obligations (children, family, etc.) that require time and attention.

Recently, however, the nature of the ‘typical’ college kid has begun to change. Today’s colleges are now attracting more ‘older’ learners than ever before. A recent survey indicated that, nationally, more than two-thirds of current college students are not ‘typical’ but instead have returned to school after pursuing other life opportunities, such as jobs, careers, child-bearing, etc. (In California, approximately half of the California Community College (CCC) population is over 22 years and therefore, considered ‘adult.’) This ‘older’ population of ‘adult’ students includes anyone between ~22 and 65 years and that arrive on campus not as neophytes but as individuals with life experience and fully formed expectations about the goals they have for their college education.

In many (if not most) cases, these older students do have experiences and skills that provide a foundation for continuing studies and educational development. And they each present a challenge to the school across virtually all of its departments: serving this varied and colorful population requires flexibility to address the needs of each individual and to ensure that every learner receives not just the education they’re seeking but also the support they need to accomplish that objective.

 

Different Learners = Different Considerations

According to research by the American Association of Community Colleges, 57% of all college students are over 22 years old, with 35% between 22 and 39 and 8% over 40. The average age is 27. Women now dominate campuses, too, at 58% women to 42% men. Related data shows how the character of the traditional community college student body is evolving, too:

Almost one in three (32%) is a ‘first-gen’ learner, the first in their family to attend college.

More than one in ten (13%) are single parents.

Almost one quarter (23%) are differently abled.

Nearly one in ten (9%) have already earned at least a bachelor’s degree.

The data reveals that today’s community college administration is more complex than ever before. The influx of ‘adult’ learners, each with their unique needs and expectations, is reshaping the educational landscape. This underscores the need for community colleges to adapt and develop new processes that can effectively serve each student, regardless of their age or background.

 

Adult Learners Add Perspective to the Educational Experience

In many instances, adult learners arrive on campus with a different mindset and expectations than those of their younger, less experienced counterparts. Some of these more mature students have elected a non-traditional path in life and are now picking up the education thread as that opportunity rises as a priority. Others may not have had an earlier educational opportunity at all and are now able to pursue that dream. Some may be completely new to the higher education arena, while others may be returning to complete the diploma or degree process they had abandoned earlier. Still others need ‘upskilling’ to attain a better job for themselves, an occupation for which they don’t qualify but will once they’ve added the necessary credentials that additional schooling will bring.

Not least significant: many people over a certain age who seek a college education do so simply because they feel they can’t reach their full potential without one. This group isn’t always driven by the potential for a higher salary or a broader slate of occupational choices. Instead, they are seeking self-improvement and enlightenment and believe they can achieve those goals in the higher education sector.

Whatever the reason for their late appearance on a college campus, most of today’s adult learners are highly motivated to excel while there, and they work incredibly hard to attain their graduations and credentials.

 

Evolving Support for an Evolving Population

Adult learners also require a wider variety of services and support to progress through to graduation than their ‘typical’ college student colleagues. For this reason, many campus-based services are realigning their models to prioritize their adult students’ needs, even if that means ‘demoting’ school priorities in the process.

Unlike younger, less mature learners, this population is often considered ‘andragynous,’ a term coined by Malcolm Knowles meaning ‘self-directed.’ Adult learners often arrive with the strong intention to maximize their learning opportunities, rely on their reservoir of experience to aid them in the process, and focus on problem-solving as the goal of their effort. They also bring with them the obligations of their personal lives. Some still work full-time and fit in schooling in their off-hours. Others are busy caring for family or community members. Still others may be accommodating emerging physical or mental health issues that frequently appear as aging advances. The college administration must be prepared to deal with all these realities if it intends to ensure its adult learners can achieve their academic goals.

In response to the influx of older students within the college student body, many schools have adapted or are adapting their practices to accommodate this new set of needs. And, as the support innovations roll out, data reveals which practices provide better results specifically within this population:

When they are able to achieve incremental goals, such as completing a course or finalizing a credential, they are more likely to persist through to graduation. Schools that refine their educational pathways to acknowledge this style of motivation will have adult students achieve better success in their educational journey.

Adult learners are more likely to engage with content that is relevant to them and their situation. Unlike younger learners, who are willing to absorb everything presented to them, older students do better when the material resonates with them on a personal level.

And because they arrive with a full set of skills already in place, ‘prior learning assessments’ (PLAs) are helpful in identifying what types of learning they need and which types they’ve already mastered. In many cases, the PLA can also be used to assign credit for proficiencies gained in life and the work world, which can also be stepping stones toward their next credential or degree.

The concept of ‘lifelong learning’ isn’t new, and the burgeoning population of adult learners attending the nation’s community colleges is a testament to the public’s embrace of that notion. Schools that adapt their services and support systems to accommodate each individual – regardless of age or ability – will ensure that their students gain the most value possible from their higher education experience.

 

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