Chapter 9: Community Service
Serving Adult Learners: The Adult & Continuing Education Program


The Adult & Continuing Education (ACE) program was established in 1995 to enable non-traditionally-aged area residents to complete a bachelor's degree through full-time or part-time evening and weekend study at on- and off-campus locations. While Millersville has offered evening classes for many years, ACE is our first attempt to enable adult learners to complete a bachelor's degree solely through evening and weekend study. The program was launched offering degree programs in Business Administration, Computer Science, English, History, Industrial Technology, and Occupational Safety and Hygiene Management. Other majors are available through a combination of day and evening study.

ACE students are admitted provisionally, able to register for no more than 11.5 credits per semester until they have demonstrated academic success. For some students, particularly those who are not employed full-time, this requirement may be unnecessarily restrictive.

ACE students who have not yet chosen a major are given special academic advisement that is sensitive to their needs and goals. According to the advisor for these ACE students, major obstacles facing ACE students include child care cost and availability, feelings of being disconnected from campus life, course scheduling, and work-related obligations.

While ACE has opened doors for students who might not otherwise continue their education, interest in the program has not been strong. The numbers of students enrolled in the program grew from 195 in Spring 1995 to a high of 471 in Spring 1998, then tapering to 447 in Spring 1999. Typically about two-thirds of ACE students return for the next semester. We do not have solid information explaining why enrollment has leveled off and begun to decline. We suspect that limited course offerings, services that often require personal visits to the Millersville campus, and strong competition from other colleges for the regional non-traditional student market may all be factors.

Another factor may be the barriers to hiring part-time faculty to teach off-campus courses, which constitute a significant portion of ACE offerings. No more than 7% of Millersville's faculty can be part-time (certain part-time positions are exempt from this cap) (see Chapter 4). If no Millersville faculty are interested in teaching a course at the time or location or in the subject needed by ACE students, an adjunct faculty member can be hired only if (1) an adjunct position within the 7% limit is available for this class and (2) the department is willing and able to conduct a search for an adjunct. Yet another factor may be faculty compensation for teaching off-campus courses, which is tied to class enrollment, a practice that may encourage some faculty to promote the class to "traditional" students, who can fill seats intended for ACE students.

Limited enrollments have made it difficult to maintain a viable program. We cannot afford to offer classes to small numbers of students in the evening or at off-campus locations when our traditional students would fill such classes to capacity during weekday hours on campus. Because of limited interest, we presently offer none of the weekend classes originally envisioned, and we no longer offer a Computer Science degree exclusively through evening and weekend study.

We are currently reviewing ACE to determine if its goals, program, or policies should be modified in light of our experience.