Degree Completion Beyond Institutional Borders: Responding to the New Reality of Mobile and Nontraditional Learners

It is expected that by the year 2018, sixty percent of all American jobs will require at least some college education. It has also been projected that if the current rates of degree completion continue, the American workforce will fall three million workers short of meeting the demands of this changing labor market. In this report from the Center for American Progress and the Council for Adults & Experiential Learning, the authors outline mechanisms and policies necessary to ensure postsecondary success among non-traditional and mobile learners. Among these mechanisms are articulation agreements between institutions allowing for easy credit transfers, methods for awarding credit to learning occurring outside of the classroom, resources that make educational options more apparent to students, and the development of programs based on competencies rather than credit hours. The authors stress that these changes are necessary both to meet the needs of the growing numbers of non-traditional students and to address the demands of the changing American economy.