Literature Review
Introduction
This survey is concerned with gaining an understanding of the involvement of nontraditional students in the TRiO student support services programs. This chapter reviews literature on the success of student support programs on involvement of nontraditional college students. Astin’s theory of student involvement postulates that higher education facilitates human development through various programs and resources such as the students support service program. The program has been implemented in various institutions of higher learning and the outcome form literature indicates that the program is successful. Nontraditional students are faced by many challenges such as the inability to meet their financial obligations, academic challenges and social challenges. However, community colleges have been able to help overcome the problems through student advisory services that help learners overcome low self-esteem among other issues. Through the success of these programs, learners are able to be successfully included into the learning schedules of colleges while succeeding and attaining the necessary academic performance. This chapter reviews the inclusion of nontraditional students in colleges and the impact of the inclusion on the academic performance of students.
Community College Role
Although the work of individual community colleges pertaining to adult scholars have a record of developing to achieve the requirements of the local community, their general task of developing a high-quality guarantee of chance and justness in American living have stayed put (McClenney, 2004). As far as American Association of Community Colleges is concerned, the earliest accessible two-year institution was established in Joliet, Illinois in 1901. At some stage in this time, the local population started opening two-year colleges whose objective was mainly to offer post secondary freethinking arts education that would afterward be transformed to educational acclaim at an established four-year institution. This undertaking not only presented the advantage of local access to the beginning of a university learning but also offered the better, four-year colleges some liberating from being required to offer the original two years of post secondary tuition to a large undergraduate populace. Subsequently, at some point in the 1930s, community colleges supplemented occupation-preparation agendas to their mature education as an approach of lessening the twinge of disastrous redundancy.
Subsequent to World War II, several armed forces productions were transformed into clandestine projects, which effected to the formation of many innovative and superior skillful careers. This revolution to a specifically oriented manufacturing civilization, in conjunction with the financial backing offered by GI Bill, shaped an atmosphere favorable for a big quantity of adults to go back for postsecondary education. Sequentially, to seal this edifying requirement, President Harry S. Truman formed the agency for Higher Education in 1947. In 1948, the agency convened and suggested that the undertaking of community colleges be reconstituted to not only exist as a primary step in forming a four-year college system, but to present lethal education over and above certificate and degree courses to seal these elevated skillful posts. This relocation of organizational objectives and the incredible staffing development offered by the infant boom generation’s advancing to old age changed the community colleges into a countrywide system (Mellander, 1994).
Milliron and Wilson (2004) observed that the U.S is currently a dwelling place for over 1,100 community institutions. A lot of their unrelenting augmentation is attributable to the capability of persistent individualized training and programming to catch up with the varied, indispensable, financial, edifying, and communal needs of the mature apprentices in every region. The communal colleges aim at accomplishing the wide-ranging desires of their mature students in present world as well as identifying the vital role that ultimate education will clasp in the upcoming years. Progressively, careers are voyaging from industrialization to the information segment. These careers call for not just additional schooling in the short period, but also continuous learning in order for individuals to update themselves with rising skills and global bazaars. The country’s community colleges yearly sign up above 2.5 million mature scholars, commonly described as 25 years and above (Howell, 2001). As varied as these personal learner’s lives are, several have volunteered in that they repeatedly operate around the clock, are leaders of families and others bring up children as single parents. The complexity of these authentic-world confrontations with those inbuilt nervousness accredited to the going back to intellectual scenery regularly resulted in an untimely conclusion to several mature students’ new beginnings in life.
The U.S. unit in charge of educational Statistics accounts that in 1998-1999, 61% of mature university learners had withdrawn from institutions after six years without relevant certification. As mature enlistment augments in institutions, both learners and instructors allude to retention as a main problem. The two apparent barricades for these mature learners are time and capital. Several of these mature learners are travelers who work permanently and are bringing up offspring. This organization of careers, travelling time, family errands, childcare tasks, and reading can be an intimidating duty. Additional obstacles may perhaps comprise incapability to acquire monetary assistance and unfortunate treatment of individual monetary stuff; a shortage of inspiration; not sufficient support from bosses, associates and relatives; pitiable learning milieu; reduced reading ability: incapability to hold pressure; unavailability of psychoanalysis services; and inflexible class timetable. Conversely, it is imperative to memorize in some debate of mature learner’s preservation that several mature learners are not looking for a certificate. They could abscond training since their individual objectives have been achieved without obtaining a certificate or owing to basically comprehending that obtaining a high education certificate is no longer significant to them (Hagedorn, 2005).
Gabriel previously documented this reality by signifying a transformation in viewpoint amongst instructors and bureaucrats when retention concerns are being measured (Gabriel, 2001). Instructors and governors need not to only adjust their thought of what victory at the society institution is for the mature learners; however, they should as well obtain a consciousness of the varied distinctiveness and living conditions that influence these mature learner’s involvement in edification. Gabriel (2001) agrees with the requirement for societal colleges to obtain an enhanced indulgence of their learner’s varied individuality and reality conditions that shape behaviors in learning environments. The institutions of high learning should observe keenly who these scholars actually are and what they are essentially pursuing. He comments though that this augmented consideration should emanate from the execution of continuing study pertaining to mature learner activities, before just coming up with conjectures or extending conjectures. As to Merriam and Caffarella (1999), one hypothetical construction that might pilot to a more precise explanation of these mature learners’ wishes, is McClusky’s theory of Margin.
TRiO SSS helps students navigate college
The self-actualization of the learner as an individual is the fundamental aspiration of the entire schooling. Some of the coalescing rationale for advanced learning then is to make possible individual improvement using a diversity of subjects and capital. As to Astin (1999), participation is neither mystifying nor abstruse; relatively, learner participation denotes the amount of physical and mental power that the learner dedicates to the educational knowledge. Astin (1999) established the main benefit of the scholar involvement theory over conventional academic advancements, (consisting of themes, reserve, and personalized or diverse premise), is that it channels concentration away from themes and procedures and in the direction of inspiring the actions of the learner. It analyzes scholar time and vigor as organizational capital, although limited capital. American community colleges, city ones especially, face exclusive confrontations with their primary-cohort, refugee, financially deprived, non-European, and imperfect English aptitude learners (Chaves, 2003). Additionally, learners are insufficiently equipped, mentally and expressively for post-secondary vocation and education. These difficulties can be aggravated by learner’s inability to bond and turn out to be complex in school at the height needed for educational and office sensation.
Hutley (2008) established the most fundamental principle of Astin’s premise of participation. It states that the more the learners discover new things, the more they are implicated in the educational and communal facets of the cloistered familiarity. An implicated learner is one who dedicates substantial vigor to school, fritters much time on college grounds, contributes aggressively in scholar associations and actions, and interrelates regularly with staff. Astin (1999) affirms that the involvement conjecture has five fundamental claims, including that participation denotes the venture of bodily and mental vigor in a variety of stuffs. The stuff may perhaps be extremely widespread that is, the learner knowledge or extremely definite implying organizing for test. He further elucidates that despite of its purpose, participation happens beside a gamut; that is, diverse learners manifest different degrees of involvement in a given object, and the same student patents diverse levels of participation in dissimilar stuff at diverse epochs. Another rudiment explained in the theory is that participation has equally quantitative and qualitative facets.
The scope of a learner’s participation in college exertion, for example, can be calculated quantitatively that is, how many minutes the learner employs in reading and qualitatively, whether the learner evaluates and figures out the interpretation of coursework or gawks at the course book and fantasizes. Again, the theory says that the quantity of learner erudition and individual improvement linked to any edifying agenda is openly comparative to the superiority and magnitude of learner participation in that course. Finally, the theorist observes that the efficiency of whichever learning strategy or practice is frankly connected to the capability of that strategy or practice to augment learner participation. The hypothesis of learner involvement disputes that for a certain syllabus to realize the outcomes anticipated, it should draw closer adequate learner endeavors and investment of vigor to convey over the preferred knowledge and improvement. Exposing the learner to a certain group of lessons may perhaps or may not operate in real life. The premise of participation, conversely, presents a theoretical alternate for the black box that is unspoken in the three conventional educational conjectures (Astin, 1999).
Astin (1999) postulates that if an organization obligates itself to attaining utmost learner involvement, therapists and additional learner workforce employees will most likely undertake a more vital task in organizational processes. Since learner staff in the educational institutions often functions on a conversational foundation with learners, they are in an exclusive position to check the participation of their customers in the educational procedure and to cooperate with personal customers in an effort to amplify that participation (Astin, 1999). The most challenge facing the learner staff uncovering a clasp that will excite learners to be more implicated in the school practice for instance captivating a diverse selection of paths, altering housing conditions, amalgamating learner clubs, contributing to a range supplementary activities, or discovering new peer groupings (Astin, 1999). Furthermore, there subsists a tremendous test at the center of the participation conjecture, and that is the tests to organization’s dealing as standard state of mind (Astin, 1999). The premise disputes the dreadfully educational brilliance as institutions of higher education has conventionally explained it.
Lundberg (2007) carried out an investigation in which he reveals that learners approach scholarship using some of the tactics including exterior stratagem whereby they attain prerequisites at a nominal level, typically in the course of rote erudition, realizing approaches where learners are determined to obtain sky-scraping scores, albeit the subject matter is not of concern. They do this by practicing the qualities of excellent students. Another strategy employed is related to profound approaches whereby students work to build up capability and curiosity in the topic, for example attempting to link new information to prior familiarity. Profound comprehension is more expected to happen in circumstances where learners are extremely implicated and occupied with the education procedure.
Lundberg (2007) revealed the effect of learner participation and organizational obligation to multiplicity forecasted learner education. Lundberg illustrated that learners accounted superior echelons of erudition when the organization’s dedication to multiplicity was sturdy and when learners were regularly betrothed in dialogue with others. Advanced stages of erudition were as well accounted when these deliberations needed learners to coalesce facts from a range of resources and discussion summits. Lundberg utilized a countrywide sample (n = 643) of resident American learners who received the College learner familiarity feedback form (Lundberg 2007). Lundberg then prepared proposals for learner policy makers to amplify the regularity of peer pondering whereas developing the organizational prominence on multiplicity.
Federal TRiO Programs Importance
Conventional K-12 schools have as well integrated syllabus to position learners on a college-going conduit. Nevertheless, academic stakeholders are progressively dedicating more interest to the edification of children who come from outside the customary school day (Jordan & Nettles, 2000). Out-of-school time (OST) indoctrination, similar to pre-college, presents to learners fortification chances external to classroom and offers youth the ordered settings, particularly throughout the summer. OST indoctrination augments the educational ability of learners and helps in mounting optimistic youth resources. Involvement in OST indoctrination has been associated with amplified attempts to comprehensive training, augmented parental commitment, and improved inherent inspiration, more exertion, little indifference, and enlarged affirmative sentiments (Vandell, et al., 2005). Choy et al. (2000) established that college outreach curriculum aiming at high school learners two folded the probability that learners would join up in postsecondary schooling.
Support dedicated to OST indoctrination has augmented significantly over the previous few years (Borman, 2001). Yearly allocations for the 21st Century Community education hub, which supports an extensive collection of before- and after-school agendas, enlarged from $453 million in 2001 to $981 million in 2007. This financial support amplification has increased the accessibility of OST indoctrination within the civil schools over the last 25 years (Borman, 2001). However, the need for OST indoctrination, as well as college admission encoding, extremely outpaces the delivery of quality service. College admission plans are not completely campus-based. Community-based school admission plans have turned out to be an admired approach of helping youth in chasing postsecondary edification. Conversely, pre-college plans present quite a few exceptional benefits over school admission indoctrination outside the college. Foremost, the college presents prosperity of proficiency for youth outreach and experts. Substance and educational capability on university grounds is an essential reserve for youth outreach plans that may perhaps not constantly be there in other university plans. On the other side, the college has the possibility of cultivating improved inspirations to youths. In conclusion, as of the proficiency on college grounds, the betrothed college is exclusively positioned to serve as an example within the society on university access indoctrination that can assist other youth-serving associations implant university admission into accessible training.
Challenges facing Disadvantaged students
Many college students are faced with many challenges as they encounter anxiety on returning to school. In their studies on anxiety, Ziegler, Elbert & Henry (2003) identified two stimulants to anxiety to disadvantaged students going to college as sense of self and perceptions their learning capabilities. Basing on the anxiety, disadvantaged students face many challenges as they join colleges for further learning. Some of the challenges they encounter include academic challenges, financial challenges and challenges on balancing roles.
Academic Challenges
Meeting the prerequisites of the course undertaken by the learners requires academic remediation to improve basic skills. Brookfield (1999) argues that nontraditional students lack the necessary knowledge and experience of post secondary education hence lack of preparation. Due to this, Brookfield calls it a feeling of impostership that is characterized by the inability of becoming college students. The insecurities of becoming and succeeding as college students are increased by misguided beliefs of college learners and instructors. The students are misguided by the belief that the instructors n college are all knowing and full of knowledge that would be poured upon them. When the reality dawns upon them that this is not true and that they must read many books and academic materials to gain knowledge, they develop feelings of frustration, confusion and cheating (Howel, 2001).
These academic challenges affect the young college students more compared to adult college students because adult nontraditional learners believe that they must put in their efforts to achieve academic excellence. They therefore concentrate on the quality on their work compared to young college students.
Financial Challenges
Financial challenges are inevitable to college students. Given their backgrounds, many nontraditional learners find it difficult to meet their financial needs. Some of the students must find ways of meeting their tuition fees and other related costs in the course of the college education. They therefore make considerations concerning personally handling potential income gap while attending classes in college. Due to financial support inadequacies, students may not fully participate in the learning process. A significant relationship between financial support for college students and their academic performance exists. Lack of financial support leads to other issues such as low self-esteem and lack of motivation for learners.
According to Ziegler, Elbert & Henry (2003), another financial issue affecting nontraditional learners is that while there exists standard financial aid programs for students from low income backgrounds, not all students are available for the financial support. Although some may have more income than qualification for the programs, they may not be able to support themselves to attend college. Another financial challenge for the students involves other financial commitments such as paying for their childcare. Financial burdens increase during summer when schools close. The extra time spent on other income generation activities and worry places strain on nontraditional college students.
The challenge of balancing responsibilities
Nontraditional college learners are faced with the challenge of balancing college, work and responsibilities at home. Issues often arise in all these problems. For instance, students experience issues with childcare arrangements, lack of empathy form instructors and family and peer relationship issues. Matus-Grossman & Gooden (2002) found out that the problem of balancing these responsibilities leave learners fragile with the possibility of dropping out of school in case of any event. According to Fairchild (2003), adult learners do not understand the fragility of their academic life and the challenges they undertake by pursuing college education. Due to fixed working hours, students are used to meeting family demands around the obligations at work. To overcome the balancing of tasks challenge that the students face in their learning, Kegan (2000) suggests that the students use the integrating strategy rather than the balancing strategy. Through this strategy, students would integrate competing responsibilities in life. Therefore, school, family and work should be viewed as a single unit rather than separate entities. This can be achieved through advise and counseling of students.
TRiO SSS: Impact on Retention of Nontraditional students
According to Robinson (2009), The U.S. has realized increased demand of academic achievements from its population over time hence indicating the changes that take place in the economy and the society. The changes have intrigued the working class to recognize the successes made by humans. Robinson (2009) defines academic achievement as the fundamental experiences of the SSS programs that relate to the nontraditional students being involved, retained, transferred and graduating from colleges and learning institutions. Most learning institutions prefer holistic achievements that involve academic achievements that not include grades only, but other activities of students. For instance, most institutions consider acquisition of a degree, utilization of academic resources in campus, establishment of a purpose and participation in the learning process as part of the academic achievement (Robinson, 2009).
Andrepont-Warren (2005) argues that the TRiO SSS has been on the frontline in the retention advising programs that help disadvantaged students from minority groups achieve their academic success. The programs are aimed at disadvantaged students at risk of dropping out of school and becoming failure sin life. For instance, the TRiO SSS program in South Carolina helps disadvantaged students improve their retention and graduation low percentages (Andrepont-Warren, 2005). In order to achieve the intended objectives, SSS programs establish and implements community-learning groups. Various disadvantaged students attend the community learning in groups while taking their similar classes so that they build a sense of community while making academic achievements. Many SSS programs have used this strategy to establish a competitive advantage. Andrepont-Warren (2005) posits that the approach taken by the method of learning established by the programs is essential to ensure the completion of the academic goals of disadvantaged students.
SSS programs are responsible for the reduction of the number of school dropouts for disadvantaged students in the society. This goal is achieved through establishing activities that keep the students engaged while leaving them motivated to learn, confident, focused and self driven. Students support services include instructional courses, peer tutoring, conducting of workshops, professional advising and providing of opportunities for the students o attend cultural events. In addition, the programs provide learning labs, classes for self-esteem and special services for handicapped learners. The elements of developmental and intrusive advising are incorporated to ensure retention and attainment of set of objectives. Some of these activities are described below.
Advising: it is a process in development that helps students clarify their goals in life and in the realization of their plans for education that help them either achieve or fail to achieve their targeted academic achievements and life objectives. A special advisor who facilitates communication through the process undertakes advising. In addition, the facilitator coordinates learning experiences by planning the courses and careers and reviewing the academic achievements of the learners. Ziegler, Elbert & Henry (2003) note that the advisor acts as a referral to other campus agencies. Advising as used in student support programs is a highly influential process that helps disadvantaged students integrate in college life. Many disadvantaged students do not know anything about the reality in college life. Through advising, their life is made easier in college.
Nilsen (2009) provides the qualifications of the advisor and notes that colleges SSS program organizers should not just pick any person. The competent advisor should be a specialist in the discipline of students, be familiar with the academic requirements in the required field. Student support programs do not have many resources when compared to well equipped colleges. The students’ advisor should have knowledge about the resource endowments and regulations of the college. Acting as a referral to other college agencies, he/she should be able to make referrals whenever necessary. Lastly, the person should be understood human behavior and communication.
The probability of student to graduate should increase with the level students interact with the faculty outside the classroom (Nilsen, 2009). This can be achieved through developmental academic advising that is based on two principles that are availability of opportunities in higher education and learning experiences in teaching that positively contribute towards personal growth. As a rational process, developmental advising is based on the level of interaction with other people in the community. According to Nilsen (2009), effective advising systems meet the needs of disadvantaged college students and the objectives of the college. The high level of satisfaction among students concerning college experience and learning is based on improved advising. Therefore, Andrepont-Warren (2005) point out that advising can create a measurable impact on students making its recognition necessary for student support services. However, many colleges with implemented SSS programs are concerned about the quality of advising offered in the programs.
Experiencing mastery would motivate learners as well as increase their level of self-efficacy. On the contrary, failure lowers self-efficacy and motivation among disadvantaged students. The success that is realized by the learners should be on a challenge for it to have the necessary impact on the morale of students. Ryan & Deci (2000) distinguished different types of motivation based on different factors that give rise to different actions. They distinguished intrinsic motivation form extrinsic motivation by arguing that intrinsic involves students engaging in tasks that they are interested in. on the contrary, extrinsic motivation does not come from an individual but from the external environment such as higher grades.
According to Nilsen (2009), highly motivated students with self-efficacy are persistent, satisfied and find pleasure and more success in college learning. Thus, motivation, self-efficacy and expectancy of value are the most significant factors on the academic performance of disadvantaged learners. These learners can be retained and perform well academically if they achieve these elements.
Supporting Adult Learners
As indicated above, adult college students face many challenges that require a lot of understanding and support for the success and academic achievement of the students. Recent studies point to the need of understanding adult students and their needs. Wlodkowski, Mauldin & Gahn (2001) conducted a survey involving two universities, Regis University and University of Missouri in Kansas to establish the factors that influence persistence and success of adult learners. The survey established that adult learners have vast college experience before enrolling in any four-year college. They have in their possession transfer credits that are related to their degrees. Due to this, adult learners endowed with better grades are more likely to succeed at the university due to their persistence.
The survey established that adult women are two times likely to graduate than men are at Regis University. On the contrary, their likelihood of dropping out of university was twice that of men at the University of Kansas. The study further established that financial support to adult learners enhances their persistence in their college education. for instance, it was reported that learners receiving financial aid were 2.9 times more persistent in their academic persistent than their counterparts. Academic persistence was also considered as a factor of social integration. Adult students that were socially well integrated were reported to be persistent and successful in their academic achievements. Lastly, the study of Wlodkowski, Mauldin & Gahn (2001) identified several variables that are related to attainment of higher grades among adult college students. Some of the factors that were identified included self-regulation, self-efficacy and instructions that supported the needs of adult learners.
Advantages of Adult Students
Motivation for learning: Motivation is a hypothetical construct because it cannot be measured or confirmed through physical sciences. Through motivation, it is possible for the world to understand human behavior. Young students proceed to college education after their high school. In the course of pursuing their college education, they face numerous challenges. However, adult learners have many sources of motivation that keeps them pursuing college education. Kasworm (2002) argues that the challenges that as adult students go through many challenges in their education life, they discover new reasons why they should pursue their college education. Personal transitions and changes push many adults to pursue their education. In addition to these motivations, some adults purposefully pursue their college education in order to venture into new opportunities in life as they seek to escape from dead-end jobs.
Determination to finish: according to Fairchild (2003), adults are driven by the need to obtain maximum returns on their investment in education hence the desire to finish college. Due to this desire, they plan to dedicate a lot of time and other resources in their academic endeavors while expecting rewards on their achievements. According to Kirby, Biever, Martinez, and Gomez (2004), in spite of the determination to reap form their investments; the determination to pursue college education is driven by other factors. They may be seeking the gratifying feelings that come from a sense of achievement. Their benefit may come in the form of satisfying a general love of learning. Their payoff may be in acquiring more knowledge about a subject that they have a deep interest in.
As many adult students determinedly work toward the potential rewards offered by a college degree, they often must struggle with challenges beyond those of the typical traditional college student. The ability to overcome such adversity reveals much about the students’ characters, motivations, capabilities, and resources. These students often endure losses, changes, hardships, and even tragedy, yet continue to push on to meet their goals while simultaneously fulfilling their obligations to both their jobs and families (Haggan, 2000).
Relationship with staff and other students: Adult learners in college are at a vantage point because staff and faculty in colleges are adults. Therefore, it is easier for them to establish a relationship faster compared to their younger college counterparts. The success of failures of adult students depends mainly on their daily interactions with their teachers, employers and staffs. According to Donaldson (1999), the policies set by institutions concerning attendance, group versus individual assignments, curriculum, and the handling late assignments often dictate whether students will able to complete courses. Positive campus relationships with faculty and staff may help to increase the adult students’ chances of success in the classroom. However, the relationships should extent outside the classroom and outside school.
Support from family and friends: adult college students obtain enough support from their families, friends and relatives. Fairchild (1999) argues that adult learners establish important relationships with their families and friends that when added to other personal factors, guide the choices and decisions made by the students. Some students garner a great deal of support from their family and friends while others feel very isolated. These feelings of isolation become even more detrimental as adult students encounter multiple deterrents in their attempts at degree completion.
The role of community Colleges
Following the determination of adult learners, community colleges play a significant role in achieving their personal objectives. According to Kirby et al. (2004), community colleges may be able to play a helpful role in nurturing supportive relationships from the family and friends of their adult students. The use of this strategy could boost the number of proactive measures supporting adult college students. Student’s family members should be included in course orientations in order to the increase the family’s awareness of the new demands being placed on the students. The students support programs in the community are responsible for helping nontraditional adult students overcome their issues by holding workshops on time management and stress management for both the students and their families in order that both parties may work together on these potential pitfalls to success. In addition, friends and families of adult learners should be involved more in adult students’ college education through their inclusion in newsletters, appreciation luncheons among others (Kasworm, Polson & Fishback, 2002).
Gap in Literature
In spite of the factors identified above, Wlodkowski, Mauldin & Campbell (2002) identifies adult college drop out as a factor of myth, common sense and recent experience. They argue that the drop out of learners from college is temporary and it is because the dropouts would like to advance in their jobs or simply because of the need for personal development. This study is relevant because it contributes to the understanding of adults leaving college following their challenges. The study should increase the knowledge base concerning adult college student expectations both during and after college. Due to the unclear nature of literature, there is a call for further research on adult college student with Houle (1992) calling for utilization of a variety of methods to investigate the study phenomena.
Conclusion
This chapter has reviewed various literature related to the study topic of involvement and Persistence of Nontraditional TRiO Student Support Services Students. The study has established the theories of student involvement in academic programs. Nontraditional students face many challenges as they pursue their higher education such as financial challenges, education challenges and challenges of balancing roles. The challenges affect their self-esteem, morale and motivation hence their academic performance. However, the challenges are easily overcome by adult learners through various means such as availability support from families, friends and relatives. In addition, they are able to establish relationships with their employers, staff, and teachers hence the ability to perform better. In addition to the above, community colleges have a role to play in ensuring the success of nontraditional students. Community colleges can perform this duty by conducting workshops and seminars that educate adult learners on the involvement in college learning. Through student support services, community colleges can help learners overcome the problem of low self-esteem and self-efficacy through advising and counseling sessions. Through reviewed surveys, it is evident that TRiO SSS programs are successful in enhancing the academic performance of nontraditional students. However, there is a gap in the involvement of adult students in the program.
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