What do adult learners really want? 

We thought we knew. At Yes& Lipman Hearne, we have more than 50 years serving higher ed institutions in enrollment, brand, and philanthropy. It felt safe to say we had seen it all. After all, the longer you dedicate yourself to any profession, the fewer surprises there tend to be. 

Isn’t it interesting, then, to dig deeper into new research and find that there’s a surprise waiting. That’s what happened recently when we took a new look at the adult learner market. 

Using a consumer intelligence platform with 250 million online adult consumers, we developed the most detailed profile of the adult learner market to date. It was like an astronomer looking at images from the James Webb telescope for the first time.  

Did you know there are almost 85 million people in the US who are prospective returning college students? This is the number of people aged 25-64, who are not current students, and who hold a high school degree. The research reveals that they fall into three distinct categories: 

Sixty-five million Degree-Dismissers who have no intention of continuing their education in the next ten years. Or ever.  

Ninety-six million Long-Term Learners who may return to higher education within the next 2-10 years, but who are not yet in the serious consideration pool. 

That leaves 9.8 million adult Fast-Track Learners who intend to continue their education in the next year—a huge segment deserving of intense focus by institutions of higher learning. 

Fast-Track Learners are more likely to be 25-44 years old, female, and leading busy lives with work and kids. That much is no surprise. It’s probably why marketing to adult learners typically centers on convenience, flexibility, and career advancement.  

What is a surprise is how powerful emotional drivers and outcomes are in Fast-Track Learners’ decision process. For example: 

  • Fast-Track Learners need to know they’ll get support and personal attention from faculty. This craving for mentorship—often central to marketing aimed at undergrads—is generally absent from marketing to adult learners. 
  • Fast-Track Learners also show significant interest in taking on challenging coursework, embracing opportunities for self-improvement and engaging in intellectually stimulating discussions.  
  • Fast-Track Learners with some college—those that tried college in the past and found reasons to discontinue their higher education—want assurance that their experience will be better if they return. 

These and other data points can help us understand this large and motivated audience. Yes, we can tell them how easy it is to fit a degree into their busy lives; but we have opportunities to make an emotional connection that will hasten their journey to enrollment in adult learning programs. 

There’s a lot more to this research into those most ready to commit to a return to higher ed. The observations above are only at the highest level. Fortunately, we like sharing this stuff with people.  

We invite you  to reach out and geek out with us over how to move the market and fulfill a few lifetime ambitions along the way.  

Exploring Trends in College Marketing Materials

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College book

Symbolic mascots, expansive viewbooks, and interactive user focused designs. On a rainy afternoon I met up with Jeremy Spaso and …

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