it is no secret that the landscape of higher education is changing.
In 1996, the National Center for Education Statistics estimated
that more than 60 percent of students in US higher education
met some or all of the criteria that would classify them as “nontraditional”—
for instance, having delayed enrollment into postsecondary
education, attending school part time, being financially
independent of their parents, working full time while enrolled,
having dependents other than a spouse, being a single parent, or
lacking a standard high school diploma. Today, the numbers are
even higher.