And, of course, adults will predominate in evening classes. Adult students come to campus terrified of competing with younger students for grades. Adults fear that younger students with their more recent schooling will succeed easily while they themselves will fail miserably. This high anxiety translates into a ferocious, all-consuming motivation to learn. Rusty Academic Skills.
Most adults enter college with rusty academic skills.
They often need remedial courses that review content such as algebra and grammar which they have forgotten over the years away from formal academic settings. Most adult students, once they survive the first term, find that their high motivation equips them to succeed in college. After brushing up their academic skills for a term or two, they often become the curve-busters in class. They experience intense and conflicting demands from work and family which must take priority over academic requirements. Adult students by and large pay for their own education.