The U.S higher education demographic has changed, and adult women constitute the fastest-growing segment in the higher learning environment. Increasingly, many institutions of higher education have come to recognize the important role of student services and support systems in the lives of adult women learners. Although much effort exists in creating supportive learning environments for adult women students, educators and higher education practitioners still know very little of these students’ experiences with institutional support and student services, what services are beneficial to them and why. The purpose of this study is to enhance our knowledge of nontraditional undergraduate adult women students’ experiences with the student services and support systems. An additional purpose of this study is to explore the types of institutional student services and support systems that are found useful and beneficial by these undergraduate women learners themselves and why they are found useful, as well as to explore the challenges, needs, and expectations of adult women learners regarding institutional support systems that they deem unavailable but necessary.
A qualitative research method was employed in this study. The participants in this study were nontraditional undergraduate adult women students enrolled at The University of Toledo (UT). The research design used was a semi-structured open-ended interview questionnaire. The in-depth interviews were conducted face-to-face, and the data generated from the interviews were analyzed. The data analysis provided insight into adult women’s experiences with the institutional support services in higher education, and captured adult women students’ thoughts on the ways they used and benefited from the available academic support, student activities, and campus facilities. The data analysis also provided insight into the adult women students’ challenges, needs, and expectations pertaining to their academic journey for success. The results from this study enhance our knowledge of nontraditional undergraduate adult women students’ experiences with the institutional support services that effectively support their achievement and academic goal.