Show More Adults r i Are Going t tw f a aBack wk w i Back Bac k To T 0 4 College Adult students make up the fastest growing segment of the college bound population says Mrs Ann Ami Erickson Dean of the School of Technology and General Education at Utah Technical College at Salt Lake We have seen the trend growing steadily for many years At Utah Tech for example in the last five years yearS' our re records show an increase se of eight percentage points in numbers of students aged 25 and older They account account- for more than half our total headcount enrollment Part of the reason for this increase has to do with the fluctuating economy The rapid change in required job skills also has has hasan an effect it is generally accepted that most workers do change jobs at least five to eight times during their adult careers Those changes frequently require additional skills often learned only by going back to college for more class- class work Societal changes chang are forcing more single parents back into the work force For some job skills have been forgotten from many years of professional inactivity Dean Erickson comments At Utah Tech were we're more aware of this problem than are many colleges across the country For years our Women's Center has been involved in helping women make the transition back to school and then into the work force Right now we are offering a Work to clerical program for this population as well as a Single Parents Displaced Homemakers program which helps men or women who qualify to make choices in higher education courses Many adults feel inferior and fearful about going back into the classroom especially as they compare themselves to their perceptions perceptions perceptions of classrooms full of nimble minded young people At the same time adults t tend nd to be much more anxious to learn fast and well to improve themselves so they too have havethe the same credentials credentials' as others at i work The technologically technologic ly sophisticated f world in which we live requires us to tobe be c constantly lea learning g says D Dean n in Erickson Theres There s safety numbers and and adults duits returning to i school are no longer in the minority For all those who question and who Wo love to find out the whys why's an and how hows how's s i and returning to r the what's wheres where's college provides a veritable paradise of answers F j |