Balancing Life and Learning: Understanding Adult Learners’ Persistence in Higher Education

Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Applied Research in Education

Year: 2026

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Balancing Life and Learning: Understanding Adult Learners’ Persistence in Higher Education

Prof. Dr. Inseo Lee

ABSTRACT:

As the proportion of adult learners in higher education continues to grow with demographic and industrial changes, understanding their unique persistence processes has become increasingly crucial. Building on Bean and Metzner’s (1985) Nontraditional Student Attrition Model, this study aims to explore and conceptualize the persistence experiences of adult learners enrolled at four-year universities in Korea. Unlike traditional students, adult learners often have to balance work, family responsibilities, and academic pursuits, resulting in complex and context-specific pathways to persistence. Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 adult learners from diverse regional universities who are currently enrolled in regular degree programs. The analysis followed iterative coding and constant comparison to identify key categories shaping the persistence decision. The findings indicate that academic persistence among adult learners is influenced not only by institutional and psychological factors, as Bean and Metzner suggested, but also by external responsibilities, perceived relevance of curriculum, and the flexibility of institutional support systems. The resulting conceptual model illustrates how adult learners’ academic and non-academic domains dynamically interact throughout their higher education experience. This study provides an empirically grounded framework that extends Bean and Metzner’s theory to the contemporary higher education context and offers practical implications for universities seeking to design retention policies and support mechanisms tailored to adult learners’ needs.

Keywords: Adult Learners, Nontraditional Students, Academic Persistence, Student Retention, Higher Education