5 Strategies to Support Nontraditional Learners and Grow Your Continuing Education Program
The term “nontraditional learner” implies an exception to the norm. But when nearly three-quarters of undergraduates have at least one nontraditional characteristic, the exception has become the norm. In continuing education, it always has been.
Today’s CE participants are working adults, career changers, parents fitting coursework around school pickups, veterans building new credentials, and professionals navigating a career pivot. They are motivated and practical, and they know what they want from education. They are also increasingly selective about where they invest their time and money, and they have more options than ever.
Who Are Nontraditional Learners?
A nontraditional learner is generally someone who does not follow the conventional path of enrolling full-time in a degree program immediately after high school. In continuing education, that describes most current and prospective participants.
Nontraditional learners often include:
- Working adults balancing full- or part-time employment
- Parents and caregivers managing family responsibilities alongside coursework
- Career changers seeking new credentials or skills
- Veterans and military-connected learners
- Adults returning to education after several years away
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 74% of all undergraduates in 2011–12 had at least one nontraditional characteristic, a figure consistent with data going back to 1999–2000.1 In continuing education, this is not a new audience. It is the audience.
Why Continuing Education Programs Must Adapt
Adult learners have always been CE’s primary audience. What’s changed is the competition and adult learners’ expectations. Traditional four-year institutions are chasing this audience to offset declining freshman enrollment. In fall 2024, enrollment among adults 25–29 grew 20% while 18-year-old enrollment fell 5.8%.2 Meanwhile, for-profit colleges, online learning platforms, and bootcamps have built their entire model around what this audience wants.
To stay competitive, CE programs need to understand what this audience is looking for. EAB’s 2024 survey found that adult learners consistently rank three factors above nearly everything else when evaluating programs:3
- Speed to completion
- Schedule flexibility
- Affordability
Programs that deliver on all three will win this audience. These five strategies can help your CE program attract, enroll, and retain them.
5 Strategies to Better Support Nontraditional Learners
1. Offer Multiple Delivery Formats
Most adult learners can only fit coursework into the margins of their day: evenings, weekends, and early mornings. Many are also managing full-time jobs and family responsibilities on top of that. Programs that only offer traditional daytime sessions are effectively unavailable to much of this audience.
Attractive programs offer a mix of:
- Online and hybrid options
- Evening and weekend sessions
- Asynchronous formats for learners with variable schedules
Consider the learner who browses your catalog at 10 p.m. after the kids are in bed. If your offerings don’t fit her schedule, you’ve lost her before she ever fills out a form. Asynchronous options, in particular, serve learners whose availability shifts week to week.
2. Simplify Registration and Enrollment
Registration workflows built for traditional degree-seeking students often pile on steps that adult learners simply don’t have time for. Every unnecessary step is a potential dropout point.
Ask for only what you need, and make sure the process works well on mobile. A useful benchmark: if your enrollment form asks for more information than a standard job application, it’s too long. If completing registration takes more than a few minutes from a phone, the process needs work.
3. Use Rolling Admissions and Modular Course Structures
Semester-based enrollment cycles don’t fit working adult life, and neither do programs that require full upfront commitment. EAB’s 2025 adult learner survey found that 60% of respondents removed a school from consideration because the program was too expensive, a cost concern that modular structures help address by letting learners invest one course at a time.4
Rolling admissions let learners start when they’re ready, reducing the gap between initial interest and enrollment. Modular or stackable course structures give learners a way to build credentials around their jobs and family responsibilities rather than setting those responsibilities aside.
4. Communicate Proactively Through the Right Channels
Missed deadlines, forgotten course starts, and payment lapses are usually signs of competing demands, not disinterest. Proactive outreach through email, text reminders, and learner portal notifications keeps participants on track without asking them to manage one more thing on their own.
5. Track Progress and Intervene Early
Learners often drop out after falling slightly behind and seeing no clear path back. When they disengage, or when you reach out to them, generic check-ins aren’t enough. Connecting at-risk learners to guidance tied to their specific program or career goals is what actually moves them forward.
Programs that monitor completion rates, assignment submissions, and login activity can identify at-risk learners early and intervene before a small setback turns into withdrawal.
How the Right Technology Makes It Easier
Most of these strategies depend on having the right tools in place. Student information systems built for traditional degree programs were never designed to handle rolling admissions, modular credentials, flexible scheduling, or automated outreach, and trying to make them do that job creates extra work at every step.
Software built specifically for continuing education closes those gaps. When evaluating platforms, look for:
Technology won’t replace thoughtful program design. But the right platform removes the day-to-day complexity that makes it hard to serve this audience well.
The Bottom Line
Nontraditional learners are not an edge case in continuing education. They are the core audience.
Programs that take their schedules, enrollment barriers, financial pressures, and career goals seriously will grow enrollment, improve completion rates, and build lasting relationships with their communities.
Flexible design, clear communication, and the right tools are not differentiators anymore. For programs serious about serving adult learners, they’re the baseline, and the right technology makes getting there much more manageable.
Ready to see how Learning Stream supports nontraditional learners?
Request a demo to see how Learning Stream helps continuing education teams streamline registration, automate communications, and deliver a better experience for every type of learner.
Sources
1 National Center for Education Statistics, Profile of Nontraditional Undergraduates (NPSAS:12, 2015). nces.ed.gov
2 National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, Fall 2024 Enrollment Trends (Higher Ed Dive, January 2025). highereddive.com
3 EAB, Understanding the Mindset of Adult Learners (2024), as cited by Sacramento State College of Continuing Education. cce.csus.edu
4 EAB, Adult Learners: Who They Are and What They Want Out of College (2025). eab.com