Preparing for the silver tsunami: the demand for higher education among older adults

Journal Article(Over the next decade, Baby Boomers will be reaching retirement age in large numbers and the U.S. will be undergoing one of the most significant demographic shifts in its history. This demographic shift has important implications for the role of higher education as a provider of lifelong learning and for the changing composition of postsecondary institutions. Using data from the 2005 National Household Education Survey, the results of this study informs the higher education community about this emerging student market segment as a way to help us better respond to older adults? demand for formal learning in postsecondary institutions. Key words: Educational demand, Older adults, Baby Boomers, Consumer preference theory, Hurdle model

Predicting youth participation in urban agriculture in Malaysia: insights from the theory of planned behavior and the functional approach to volunteer motivation

This study examines factors associated with the decision of Malaysian youth to participate in a voluntary urban agriculture program. Urban agriculture has generated significant interest in developing countries to address concerns over food security, growing urbanization and employment. While an abundance of data shows attracting the participation of young people in traditional agriculture has become a challenge for many countries, few empirical studies have been conducted on youth motivation to participate in urban agriculture programs, particularly in non-Western settings. Drawing on the theories of planned behavior and the functional approach to volunteer motivation, we surveyed 890 students from a public university in Malaysia about their intention to join a new urban agriculture program. Hierarchical regression findings indicated that the strongest predictor of participation was students’ attitude toward urban agriculture, followed by subjective norms, career motives and perceived barriers to participation. The findings from this study may provide useful information to the university program planners in Malaysia in identifying mechanisms for future students’ involvement in the program

A uthor M anuscript Preparing for the Silver Tsunami: The Demand for Higher Education among Older Adults' A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript

Abstract Over the next decade, Baby Boomers will be reaching retirement age in large numbers and the U.S. will be undergoing one of the most significant demographic shifts in its history. This demographic shift has important implications for the role of higher education as a provider of lifelong learning and for the changing composition of postsecondary institutions. Using data from the 2005 National Household Education Survey, the results of this study informs the higher education community about this emerging student market segment as a way to help us better respond to older adults' demand for formal learning in postsecondary institutions. Key words: Educational demand, Older adults, Baby Boomers, Consumer preference theory, Hurdle model. D E M A N D F O R H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N 1 P r e p a r i n g f o r t h e S i l v e r T s u n a m i : 1 UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript Over the next 10 years, Baby Boomers will be reaching retirement age in large numbers and the U.S. will be undergoing one of the most significant demographic shifts in our nation's history. According to the U.S. Census Medicare and Medicaid), this shift also has important implications for the role of higher education as a provider of lifelong learning and for the changing composition of postsecondary institutions. Postsecondary institutions have several strong motivations for understanding consumer demand for lifelong learning among this older adult population. The first motivation is that, compared to previous generations entering retirement age, Baby Boomers are expected to live longer and healthier lives, and they are abandoning traditional notions of retirement for a "third age" of life in which they continue to work and engage actively in new educational experiences and activities related to personal development and community involvement (American Council on Education, 2007Education, , 2008 Boomers-plan to stop working after reaching the traditional retirement age of 65. In addition, 33% of adults ages 55 to 79 participate in some kind of formal learning such as credential programs, work-related courses, or courses for personal interest, whereas 69% engage in some form of informal learning such as participating in clubs or activity groups, or attending U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript conventions or conferences (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2005). The educational preferences of this generation also appear to be well-aligned with the formal learning experiences offered in college settings. Older adults report that they are most interested in learning for personal development or to acquire advanced skills, and they have a strong preference for educational environments in which they engage in experiential learning and face-to-face interaction with teachers and other learners The second motivation that postsecondary institutions have for understanding the demand for lifelong learning among older adults is the projection that, over the next decade, the national pool of traditional-aged college students will increase at a slower rate, with some states likely experiencing a decrease in the number of traditional-aged students attending college (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2008). Similar to the demographic shifts in the 1970s-when large numbers of Baby Boomers were moving beyond traditional college age and postsecondary enrollments were anticipated to decline Although college leaders and educational policy makers are aware of the current demographic shifts, they do not appear to have yet responded to the educational demand of a growing segment of the population. According to a report by the American Council on Education (2007), approximately 40% of colleges in the U.S. do not actively reach out to older adults' educational needs. Older adults have educational preferences that align with the course content and learning environments of postsecondary institutions, yet over one-half (57%) of these U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript potential students report never enrolling in a postsecondary institution to satisfy their educational demand One of the possible reasons why postsecondary institutions have yet to respond to current demographic changes is the lack of empirical information regarding the educational preferences of older adults. Research in higher education typically overlooks the learning experiences of adults by focusing on traditional-age students who enroll in credit-bearing courses Literature Review Although there have been recent calls for more empirical research on the college choices and educational experiences of nontraditional college students (e.g., U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript college choice research may serve to inform us of similar information asymmetries and other barriers to higher education faced by older adults. Reviews of the literature conducted over the past several decades have illustrated with a high degree of consistency that students' propensity to attend college generally (or a college type specifically) differs systematically by such demographic and academic characteristics as the students' age, gender, race/ethnicity, and prior academic achievement; by such socioeconomic characteristics as their parents' income, occupation, and educational attainment; and by such cost constraints as distance, tuition and fees, and the availability and types of financial aid awarded Baby Boomers approaching retirement age presumably have different motivations for and expect different returns from taking coursework at postsecondary institutions than traditional-age students, yet limited evidence suggests that some of the known differences in the propensity to attend postsecondary institutions found among traditional-age students are common among older adults. For example, older adults' reliance on postsecondary institutions as providers of instruction appears to be a function of gender, age, educational attainment, and income U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript unique influence of these factors on older adults' participation in formal coursework for personal interest and work-related reasons. This study seeks to reduce this gap in the literature by using a nationally representative dataset and multivariate analysis to examine the characteristics of older adults who choose to participate in formal coursework for personal interest or work-related reasons at postsecondary institutions and other providers. Methods Conceptual Framework Following a long line of inquiry within college choice research (e.g., The decision rule that guides the decision-making process is the maximization of utility under constraint. In this study, the alternatives available to older adults are possible combinations (or bundles) of time per year devoted to formal personal interest or work-related courses and to a composite good representing other activities. Formally, the model of consumer behavior assumes U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript that an individual selects a particular bundle representing some combination of formal coursework and the composite good when the utility derived from this alternative is greater than the utility derived by choosing any of the other available bundles. For this study, the utility that an individual derives from a particular bundle of formal coursework and the composite good is a function of his or her demographic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, and a set of constraints. Although utility is not directly observable, the maximization of utility is inferred by an observed choice. In this study the observed choice is the number of hours over a 12-month period that the individual participates in formal coursework for personal interest or work-related reasons. Under the premise of consumer preference theory, individuals are not expected to derive the same utility from a particular bundle of goods, have the same marginal rate of substitution (or tradeoff) between bundles of goods, or face the same set of constraints that determine the bundles of goods that are available to them U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r 2006a). Surveys were completed by U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript D E M A N D F O R H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N 9 UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript DEMAND FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 10 8,904 individuals for an unweighted survey response rate of 75.3%. The sample of older adults employed in this study represents 34.7% of the total number of respondents. Variables The outcome under study is the total number of hours over the prior 12 months in which older adults participated in formal courses for personal interest or work-related reasons. Although some courses for personal interest or work-related reasons are offered for college credit, this type of formal learning is taken primarily on a non-credit basis and is not intended to be a part of a degree program. Examples of personal interest courses include personal finance, home computing, dance or music, health or fitness, and foreign languages. Examples of workrelated courses include computer skills, communication, diversity, and stress management. Respondents could list as many as 20 courses taken for personal interest or work-related reasons, but only as many as two courses for personal interest and four courses for work-related reasons were sampled for more in-depth questioning by the Adult Education Survey interviewer. Due to both the contradictory wording in the Adult Education Survey and the focus of this study on formal courses that are commonly provided at postsecondary institutions, 'informal religion/bible study' was removed from the outcome as a type o f formal coursework taken for [ U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y Analytic Procedures The excess in the share of older adults who did not participate in any formal courses for personal interest or work-related reasons (74.3% of the weighted sample) is under-predicted by common methods of analyzing count data, such as Poisson regression or negative binomial regression U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y A uthor M anuscript UU IR Author Manuscript UU IR Author M anuscript DEMAND FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 12 Given the limitations of Poisson regression and negative binomial regression, the number of hours spent participating in coursework for personal interest or work-related reasons is estimated by a hurdle regression model. The hurdle model, often used within the field of economics to address the corner solution, allows for the possibility that older adults have a perfect probability of having zero hours of participation in formal coursework by assuming that two underlying processes determine the hours spent on formal learning by older adults. The first process determines whether or not one will choose formal learning for personal interest or workrelated reasons-i.e., jumping the hurdle. Conditional on having chosen to participate in this formal learning, the second process determines how many hours of such coursework one will pursue. Each process in the hurdle model is represented by an independent equation. The choice of whether or not to pursue formal learning is estimated using a binary logit regression model. [ U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r Both the binary logit regression and zero-truncated negative binomial regression equations are estimated with Stata Intercooled, Version 11. This version of Stata has survey (i.e., 'svy:') commands that allow for the requirements of complex survey designs-such as those procedures used in the sampling for the 2005 administration of the National Household Education Surveys Program-in the estimation of both binary logit regression models (i.e., the 'svy: logit' command) and zero-truncated negative binomial regression models (i.e., the 'svy: ztnb' command). Survey commands in Stata produce variance estimates using balanced repeated replication, jackknife, or Taylor linearization, all of which are recommended as methods for computing sampling errors for the 2005 National Household Education Surveys Program data Limitations U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y Finally, like all analyses based on historical data to forecast future demand, we must take note of the fact that there are limits to the generalizability of our study findings. Most of the older adults in the age group represented in our study fall into a generation that comes before and are not captured in our study (i.e., unobserved heterogeneity) and by the extent that the future context (e.g., economic and political) will be different from the time period represented in this study. U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y Results Binary Logit Model for Decision to Participate Unadjusted Parameter Estimates. Prior to estimating the full binary logit model, we entered into the model separately the predictor variables representing each construct of interest (See [ Adjusted Parameter Estimates. After regressing older adults' decision to participate in formal learning on each construct separately, we estimated a full model to partial out the unique U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y Discussion of the results follows and is presented in order by demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, ethnicity, immigrant status, living arrangement, and rural locale) socioeconomic characteristics (i.e., education level, household income, and employment status) and other commitments or constraints (i.e., extent of informal learning and physical or learning disability). With regard to differences by older adults' demographic characteristics, after statistically controlling for socioeconomic characteristics and for other commitments and constraints, all but one (i.e., race) of the adjusted relationships between demographic characteristics and the decision to participate in formal coursework remain statistically significant and in the same direction as the unadjusted relationships (with living alone being statistically non-significant in both the unadjusted and adjusted models). Specifically, all else being equal, older adults' odds of participating in formal coursework decrease by 2.4% for a one-year increase in age. Females have odds of participating in formal coursework that are 125.5% higher than the odds for males. Compared to their peers born in other countries, older adults who are born within the U.S. have 71.5% higher odds of participating in formal coursework. Older adults who live in rural locales have odds of participating in formal coursework that are 42.7% lower than the odds for those living in urban or suburban areas. Regarding the relationships between socioeconomic characteristics and the decision to participate in formal coursework, after statistically controlling for other predictors, all of the adjusted parameter estimates are statistically significant and in the same direction as the unadjusted coefficients. In particular, the odds of participating in formal coursework as an older adult increase by 18.7% for a one-year increase in schooling, all else being equal. The odds of U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h I n s t i t u t i o n a l R e p o s i t o r y Finally, regarding the relationships between other commitments and constraints and older adults' decision to participate in formal learning for personal interest or work-related reasons, the adjusted parameter estimate for having a physical or learning disability is statistically nonsignificant, whereas the estimate for the informal learning index remains statistically significant after statistically controlling for other predictors. Specifically, for a one-unit increase in the informal learning index, the odds of participating in formal coursework increase by 33.3%. Zero-truncated Negative Binomial Regression for Positive Hours of Participation Unadjusted Parameter Estimates. As with the binary logit model for the decision to participate in formal learning, prior to estimating the full zero-truncated negative binomial regression model, we entered into the model separately the predictor variables representing each construct of interest (Se