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The report finds that non-academic factors—health or personal issues, money, and time constraints—are far more common than academic reasons, and that many learners view stopping out as a break.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/stopping-out-its-not-about-academics/583960/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/stopping-out-its-not-about-academics/583960.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"\tCallum ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-08","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What does the report say about why adult learners stop out?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The report shows that reasons for stopping out are more often tied to health or personal issues, money, and time constraints rather than academic factors. It also notes that many learners treat stopping out as taking a break instead of fully dropping out.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How do persistence and completion patterns differ for adult learners?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The report states that more than half of adult learners stop out after their first year, with persistence rates consistently tracked below 50% for the past five years. It also cites a six-year completion rate of 52% for any institution type versus 62% for all students.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What reasons are most commonly cited for taking a break during enrollment?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Respondents most commonly cited focusing on work or increasing hours worked (25%) and emotional stress or mental health (23%). 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CAEL opens doors to opportunity in collaboration with workforce and economic developers; postsecondary educators; employers and industry groups; and foundations and other mission-aligned organizations. By engaging with these stakeholders, we foster a culture of innovative, lifelong learning that helps individuals and their communities thrive. A membership organization established in 1974, CAEL is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workplace™ certified and is a part of Strada Collaborative, a mission-driven nonprofit. Learn more at [cael.org](cael.org) and [stradacollaborative.org](stradacollaborative.org).  \n© 2024 Strada Collaborative d/b/a CAEL. All rights reserved. (018-24) 03/24  \nSTOPPING OUT: IT’S NOT ABOUT ACADEMICS  \nIntroduction  \nIn a 2023 report by the National Student Clearinghouse, the “some college, no credential” population  \nstood at 40.4 million in 2021, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier. Of this population, more than half (21 million, 52%) were 25 or older at the time of their last enrollment. One solution to this reality is to reengage this population and bring them back to postsecondary learning opportunities as adults, but a common criticism is that such “Comebackers” also do not have a good track record for persisting toward credential completion. For many adult learners, the path to a degree is often punctuated by breaks in enrollment. Taking on multiple roles (employee, parent, caregiver, student) can lead to slower progress, longer time to completion, and by extension, a more costly postsecondary experience.  \nMore than half of all adult learners stop out after their first year. As National Student Clearinghouse data show, the persistence rate has consistently tracked below 50% for the past five years. Adult learners also take longer to complete their programs, with the six year completion rate (for any institution type) standing at 52%, compared to 62% for all students. Both these data points have underlying cost implications—stopping out before attaining a credential, or taking longer to complete a program, will make it harder for adult learners to advance in their careers even as they are shouldering the added costs related to that education.  \nWhile these are troubling statistics, it would be a mistake to write these individuals off as “not college material”or to use their persistence and completion rates to argue that college isn’t for everyone. The problem may be that our postsecondary institutions have more to do to be adult learner friendly—to find ways to meet adult learners where they are at this stage in their lives. It may also be the case that we need to consider that the typical ways in which we measure student outcomes for traditional age learners (e.g., first year persistence rate, six-year graduation rate) might be out of step with how adults engage with postsecondary learning.  \nA recent CAEL study on how adult learners finance their education also explored the topic of stop out patterns, among a group of adult learners having diverse backgrounds (35% were lower-income Pell Grant recipients, 71% were parents, and 41% were first-generation college students), races and ethnicities (14% Black, 8% Hispanic), and types of credentials they were pursuing or had recently completed (50% bachelor’s degrees, 28% associate degrees, and 22% short-term credentials) . CAEL found the reasons for stopping out were far more likely to be related to health or personal issues, money, and time constraints than academic reasons. Notably, many adult learners viewed stopping out as taking a break rather than dropping out completely.  \n2  \nSTOPPING OUT: IT’S NOT ABOUT ACADEMICS  \nKey Findings  \nTAKING A BREAK ","cbCaibojegRrdvkT","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibojegRrdvkT","pdf",839721,"English","# Introduction\n# Key Findings\n## Taking a Break Is a Common Practice\n## Work, Health, Family Needs Were Common Reasons for Taking a Break\n## Academic Issues Are the Least Mentioned Reasons for Stopping Out","[{\"question\":\"What does the report say about why adult learners stop out?\",\"answer\":\"The report shows that reasons for stopping out are more often tied to health or personal issues, money, and time constraints rather than academic factors. It also notes that many learners treat stopping out as taking a break instead of fully dropping out.\"},{\"question\":\"How do persistence and completion patterns differ for adult learners?\",\"answer\":\"The report states that more than half of adult learners stop out after their first year, with persistence rates consistently tracked below 50% for the past five years. It also cites a six-year completion rate of 52% for any institution type versus 62% for all students.\"},{\"question\":\"What reasons are most commonly cited for taking a break during enrollment?\",\"answer\":\"Respondents most commonly cited focusing on work or increasing hours worked (25%) and emotional stress or mental health (23%). Health care issues were also cited by 18%, along with other personal and family-related constraints.\"}]","Stopping Out: It’s Not About Academics | PDF",1792049192,18]