The EvoLLLution - Beyond The Degree

What if adult learner persistence is less about individual resilience and more about whether institutions create the conditions that make persistence possible?

In an article for The EvoLLLution, CAI’s Matt Bergman, Ph.D. and Bridgett Strickler draw from the stories featured in Beyond the Degree: Stories of Adult Learner Comebacks and What They Teach Us to examine how higher education can better support learners whose educational journeys unfold alongside work, family, caregiving, and other responsibilities.

This is at the heart of a concept introduced in the article (and in the book, Beyond the Degree): Comeback Capital.

Comeback Capital is the talent, experience and economic potential that communities can unlock when adults with some college but no credential have meaningful pathways to return and complete what they started. Realizing that potential requires institutions to design policies, practices and supports that make persistence possible.