Beyond the Traditional: Breaking Barriers and Forging Diverse Pathways for Non-Traditional Students

Non-traditional college students constitute a large portion of undergraduate enrollment across the United States, making up as much as 33.5% of all undergraduates. Non-traditional students is the broad overarching term that includes (but is not limited to) transfer, first-generation, undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and low-income students. With increased access to higher education over the last 100 years, the number of students with non-traditional backgrounds has grown immensely. In this article, we discuss the different demographic characteristics of non-traditional students, followed by an examination of non-traditional students’ access and diverse pathways through academia. We identify trends among this population of college students and discuss the ways they successfully navigate earning a college degree – both generally in the United States and more specifically in Texas. We conclude with implications and considerations for working with and supporting non-traditional students on their diverse pathways to and through higher education.