Examining the Experiences of Nontraditional Undergraduate Women

Increasing numbers of nontraditional students, of whom many are women, are enrolling in two-year and four-year colleges and universities. The purpose of this study was to critically examine the experiences of nontraditional undergraduate women and their preferred learning environment-pedagogy vs. andragogy. Students were asked to respond to a variety of questions to reflect their preferred learning environments. The researcher looked for differences in the experiences of twenty (ten Black and ten White) nontraditional female undergraduate college students within their respective institutions based on their race, socioeconomic background, age, marital status and family education. Also, the researcher focused on why these nontraditional female college students returned to college, as well as any barriers (situational, dispositional, institutional) that may impinge upon their academic success.