Baby Boomers and community college: A study of motivations

Scope and Method of Study: This descriptive case study was designed to describe the critical issues surrounding Baby Boomers and their motivations to attend community college, in addition to their perceptions of learning and curriculum needs. Additionally the study explored what these Baby Boomers plan to do after completing their courses and described their plans as they near retirement age. The study was conducted at a large, multi-campus community college in the Midwest/Southwest. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 Baby Boomers who had taken at least one credit class at the community college within the last year. In addition, faculty members with at least three years of community college teaching experience participated in a focus group. These Baby Boomers were chosen using a stratified population by age group and gender which matched the community college enrollment. The purpose of the study was to determine (a) Baby Boomers' motivations to attend the community college, (b) Baby Boomers' perceptions about how their learning needs have changed over the years, (c) why Baby Boomers evaluate the various learning options as they do, (d) to what degree the curriculum is meeting the needs of this group, and (e) what their plans are as they relate to retirement.Findings and Conclusions: Most of the Baby Boomers in this study were taking classes in order to prepare for a new career, advance in their current career, or begin a second career for an encore career or bridge employment during retirement. Each had experienced some sort of critical life event which motivated them to take courses at the community college. They described their motivations as being from one of these areas: personal enrichment, career, critical incident and retirement/bridge employment. It was determined that the Baby Boomers at this community college are an underserved population. Since the traditional student age population in this community is decreasing, and the Baby Boomer population is increasing in this community, recommendations were made with suggestions for how the college can begin to better serve this demographic