Going back to school as an adult often comes with tough challenges impacting your present and future life. It might be possible that you can learn the advanced skill set needed for a more rewarding job or career. However, being an adult learner, one needs to face several problems in high school. It becomes challenging to adjust your classes with a full-time or part-time job and family to manage. Moreover, it is also essential to consider the financial aspect of how you are going to pay for college and tuition fees by managing your budget. Here are some of the solutions for those problems one can face being an adult learner.
#1 Challenges Faced by Adult Learners – Education Cost:
It does not doubt that getting an education is a profitable investment for the future with proper planning. However, as an adult learner, one had to fulfil his financial responsibilities towards his family, home, groceries, utilities, car, et cetera. So adding on it, college and tuition fees plus the cost of textbooks often get the budget out. In most cases, our adult learners are not aware that they still can qualify for financial aid for their studies. There is no limit of the age for applicants, making them eligible at any age for scholarships, student loans, and grants that can be enough to cover most of college financial expenses.
#2 Challenges Faced by Adult Learners – A Busy Routine:
The adult learner cannot enjoy the education as a teenage kid who’s full week revolves around his homework, extracurricular activities, and school. Whereas the week of the adult learner is to look after his family, get to work and helping kids in their extracurricular activities. Adult learners can take the benefit of online learning programs. Our college Australian College of Skills and Education offers several online diploma courses and learning programs that the learners can select to complete their class hours in their most convenient time online. Moreover, nowadays, you can download specific applications to manage your class schedules by keeping you on track to meet deadlines for important assignments.
#3 Challenges Faced by Adult Learners – Campus Access:
Sometimes the accommodation is very far from the college campus, which can be the main hurdle for stopping you from accessing higher education. Even if you’re living near a college campus, the commute time would be difficult for you to manage in your busy routine. However, online classes can save that time more efficiently where you don’t have to commute at all by completing your assignments and submitting them from home through a virtual program.
#4 Challenges Faced by Adult Learners – Self-Confidence:
Sometimes there is a feeling of complexity; telling you that you failed to do well in school; might that happens again with college. However, that is often wrong because, being an adult learner, one can control his education better than teenage time. Adulthood makes you ready, determined, and mature as you have already faced several challenges of life. The same ability will help you in your learning. It is essential to develop healthy and good habits. Instead of getting stressed due to the assignments, you can break them into several small milestones to be completed at regular and shorter intervals. Being an adult student should not make you feel lonely because according to the survey and research. There is an increasing trend in people being adult learners. In recent years, there is a massive increase in the enrolment of over 25 year age students that makes you one of them.
#5 Challenges Faced by Adult Learners – Support:
The adult learner may not have the encouragement of his parents to raise his morale. However, being an adult, one can develop a support system that will involve friends, kids, and family that can also help increasing confidence. In some cases returning to school as an adult learner is due to the wish of kids. So if you haven’t disappointed them, they have to encourage your efforts to start education again. Moreover, the school counsellor or the instructor can also be beneficial for moral support and help.
Our college, the Australian College of Skills and Education, encourages such adult learners to join our online programs. They can listen to the classes and lectures at the ease of their time. Moreover, our admission advisors are very able and friendly personnel who are ever ready to help the students out in any possible manner.