Introduction
Non-traditional students are students over the age of 25 in college. These students differ from the traditional young and naïve teenagers who go to college without much responsibilities. Their population has been growing rapidly from the late 90s to now, with more and more students taking evening classes, part-time classes and mini courses in college and juggling with unemployment or full employment to get by (Adebayour DO, 2014). In the early 2000s, American colleges reported a significant 73% of the population of students to be non-traditional and they had to be either employed, or veterans who had come back from the war. In another statistic, in 2009, USDE-NCES report indicated that 40% of the population were NTS but this is just a statistic. The research depends on who was carrying it out but the figures are accurate. This is a worldwide trend with more and more people enrolling in online classes, taking shorter courses since they are engaged in other activities.

I identify as a non-traditional student since I am over 25 years old, employed but still trying to finish my degree. This is the normal life of an adult in this day and age as the world is changing from traditional forms of doing things. Why chose to be a NTS? The answer is time. In the fast moving world today there is barely time to do anything. With many courses being offered online making it easy to learn without going to the physical school, there is the option of pursuing a course online making it easier for you to juggle between school and work. According to Melissa A., Broeckelman Brenda, L. MacArthur, higher education expansion was achieved after the G.I bill passed in the United States in 1944. Traditional students were the normal people in the college. They went to campus immediately after high school at the age of eighteen, were employed part-time or none at all and graduated school after exactly four years.

A student over the age 25 can benefit from these programs designed with age-based needs in mind. Moreover, they might also benefit from support programs that account for a need to balance parenting, care giving, and employment. It is clearly less challenging to create a program for a student with no more than one non-traditional characteristic. Creating programs for students with multiple characteristics (which is the case with many NTS) is more difficult (Bethania Diaz-Chaviano, 2011). All of these factors create a multilevel challenge for schools, if they wish to carefully develop programs that facilitate their successful transition to college and degree completion.

However, 70% of students in colleges as at 2014 are non-traditional with 35% of their population according to research by National Center for Educational Statistics in the US enrolling in 2-year courses. The remaining 65% enroll in 4 year courses but on a part time basis since they are employed or engage in other activities like sports or even politics. Institutions of higher learning are important since they bring together diverse groups of people from all over the world and the government has taken initiative to ensure that all the needs of students are catered for through the schools. It has taken most institutions of higher learning a while to adapt to this new phenomenon but it is caching up. Universities have introduced online courses for the non-traditional student and adjusted the timetables to ensure that they get the time convenient for them to get to study.

Additionally, lecturers have been assigned to these students to be able to assist them on the various programs. Teaching a diverse group like this, especially employed people with problems, communication becomes a problem. This enable the introduction of other languages being taught in colleges as electives to help the students communicate effectively. Technology has played an important role for students and schools since adapting to accommodate such a population of students needs major adjustments. Most universities have websites that enable them to post the necessary information to assist the students with the work needed. All course materials, the lecturers and classes available are clearly stated in the website making the process of inquiry less hectic.

Moreover, the government, through its programs like student loans and scholarships, has enabled the non-traditional students to thrive in this environment. Having to juggle school and work is not easy feat, but with a little help you can pull through. The assumption in this case is that all the student needs are the same and once in school each and every one of them has a goal of finishing school. Research always has its bias and assumptions and it does not take into considerations the students’ needs, preferences and overall course availability in the colleges. International students are the most affected since learning a new language get challenging when all you try to do is go to school, getting a job to support yourself might be difficult due to lack of a work permit and all these factors are issues that the government should address when it comes to catering for NTS needs since they are the typical student roaming the halls of education nowadays

In conclusion, the non-traditional students are the trend nowadays. An interesting statistic about them is that their completion rate is lower than expected. 25% of the NTS population actually finish college with the rest either dropping out or postponing their studies due to other engagements. 13% are said to be women while an astonishing 87% are men. Empirical data that is used to assess the effectiveness of the basic courses for different types of students and universities, provides models of the kind of assessment of data differentiating their effectiveness by student classification, which is often required by institutional assessment offices and accreditation organizations. Only one study compared the effectiveness of an instructional technique at two universities in different regions and found significant differences in cultural...…from underrepresented ethnic groups such as first-generation students or students of color. This new center set up in New York, as part of the Center for the First Year Experience within Division of Student Life, aims to make all transfer students’ experience in the campuses as smooth as possible. More than 800 students are said to have visited it in the fall and were provided massive support during the transition to campus including more advocacy, pre-transfer advising, and transfer to specific programs. In addition to professional staff, the center also employs experienced transfer students known as Transfer Ambassadors to offer personal and academic assistance. Unacceptable behavior in campuses should be condemned fully to ensure all student are protected from harm by those who do not conform to the rules.

In the example above, the center gets students of color from different backgrounds and nationalities and gathering data from this sample size can give accurate results. Expectations are always high in this environment and finding out from this point before student go to various campuses. Finding out about their goals, dreams, expectations and how they would improve the environment they go to if they found something different. These are the leading questions to ask these students taking into account most of them are non-traditional students and a conducive environment to learn is all they seek.

Repeat offenses need to be punished as soon as possible to prevent skepticism on the part of the administration. Accountability is important, when it comes to mistakes that need to be addressed and that affect the students directly or indirectly. The proportion of students seeking knowledge gets higher everyday but in an environment where there is diversity, there is always clashes that need to be addressed. Words are powerful to the diverse thus language needs to be checked to. To be able to protect all these students, there is a need to check the compositional diversity to determine what percentage of the population is diverse. This allows the administration to come up with rules on how to control them. Psychological dimension to assess the kind of minds you have in an institution and be able to come up with solutions on how to shape those minds for the better future. Organizational and structural dimensions; this looks at the staff, support staff, student and the public. Recognizing authority in institutions needs to be inculcated in the students and staff to be able to run the school smoothly. Behavioral dimension which is shaped towards analyzing the behaviors of student s from various cultures and backgrounds and help shaping them on how to best tolerate each other. Lastly, historical legacy of inclusion. This is an important aspect of the framework and all stakeholders are to take keen interest in this subject. Decision making by different ethnicities in the university environment is important since everyone will feel to be a part of the process

References

Broeckelman-Post, M. A.…