These Are the Best Schools for Nontraditional Students

While it seems like most American college students attend right after high school — typically between the ages of 18-22 — not everyone is afforded the same opportunities as others.

Whether it be due to financial reasons, time constraints, or even disability, there is any number of reasons why someone might choose (or be forced) to forgo attending college in favor of taking their lives in another direction.

Some people go their entire lives without attending college, which can often be the right choice for an individual. For others, missing college in their late teens/early twenties is simply a setback on their road to higher education.

In fact, nontraditional students — which the NCES defines according to several factors, such as any student outside of the above age range (18-22), or who attends college less than full-time, or doesn’t live on campus, etc. — actually make up over 70% percent of all college students. This got us at Zippia wondering — which colleges in the US are the most friendly to nontraditional students?

We were curious — so, using IPEDS data from the NCES, we created our own list of the schools in the US that accept the highest number of nontraditional students.

The full list can be found further down, but first, here’s a quick top ten.

Excelsior College
Capella University
Linfield College
American Sentinel University
American Public University System
Charter Oak State College
Nazarene Bible College
National American University
Pennsylvania State University – World Campus
City Vision University

How We Did It

Using blank data from the National Center for Education Statistics, we put together a list of schools that had the following educational opportunities for their students:

Dual Credit
Credit for Life Experiences
Advanced Placement (AP) credits

Following that, we looked separately at what percentage of students from each school were I) enrolled part-time, II) were of a non-traditional age (that is, any age outside of the 18-22 range), and III) were distance-education students. Each school was ranked according to these percentages, with those closest to 100% getting the highest rankings.

We then averaged these three separate ranks together in order to get our final ranked list of the schools that were the most friendly to nontraditional students.

Does your school make the top fifteen? Read on to the full list to find out.

1. Excelsior College

Source

Location: Albany, New York
School Description: A private non-profit college in NY, Excelsior College tops our list with almost all of its students listed as nontraditional in either age or means of education. Excelsior is widely known for its transfer credit policy, wherein almost any credit from another institution will be accepted (provided that the credits are from within the last decade or so).

2. Capella University

Source

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
School Description: Capella University is a for-profit, largely online university with a huge population of nontraditional students. The majority of these students are actually obtaining graduate degrees — only 23% of Capella’s student population is made up of its graduate students.

3. Linfield College

Source

Location: McMinnville, Oregon
School Description: Linfield College, a private college located in McMinnville, OR, is a liberal arts school offering almost 50 majors. The school also has a significant online component, with an adult degree program found on the school’s official website.

4. American Sentinel University

Source

Location: Denver, Colorado and Birmingham, Alabama
School Description: American Sentinel College formed from after the merging of the American College of Computer amp; Information Sciences and American Graduate School of Management. The school now offers business and technology courses from both programs and has a significant online education program.

5. American Public University System

Source

Location: Charles Town, West Virginia
School Description: American Public University System is comprised of two major institutes: 1) American Military University, and 2) American Public University. Despite the name, APUS is actually a private online university that began life as a graduate school for military personnel in need of specialized training courses.

6. Charter Oak State College

Source

Location: New Britain, Connecticut
School Description: A public liberal arts school located in New Britain, CT, Charter Oak offers a lot in the way of student assistance, including program planning and credit given for military training or prior learning. Like the other schools on this list, the school provides education through its online learning program.

7. Nazarene Bible College

Source

Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
School Description: Nazarene Bible College is a private, coeducational bible college located in Colorado. Its student body is made up almost entirely of nontraditional college students — the school has no on-campus housing, and the average age of its student population is 38.

8. National American University

Source

Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
School Description: National American University is another online for-profit university, this one based primarily in Rapid City, SD. An accredited school, NAU offers courses in a variety of programs including accounting, criminal justice, nursing, and information technology.

9. Pennsylvania State University – World Campus

Source

Location: State College, Pennsylvania
School Description: Pennsylvania State University is one of the largest public universities in Pennsylvania and is part of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth System of Higher Education. While it’s widely known for its large campus and large traditional student population, it also has a thriving online university program where the majority of its nontraditional student population finds their home.

10. City Vision University

Location: Kansas City, Missouri
School Description: An online university based out of Kansas City, City Vision University offers programs in fields like addiction studies, nonprofit management, and business administration. Primarily a Christian institution, City Vision is fully accredited by Distance Education Accrediting Commission, making it an excellent place for nontraditional students of the Christian faith to meet their educational needs.

11. University of Maryland University College

Source

Location: Adelphi, Maryland
School Description: University of Maryland University College is the second big public university to make our list. Located in Adelphi, MD, UMUC is part of the University of Maryland, College Park institution. Originally an evening program for adults beginning in the 1920s, today UMUC is a distance-education institution with over 60,000 undergraduate students.

12. Eastern New Mexico University – Ruidoso Campus

Source

Location: Ruidoso, New Mexico
School Description: Eastern New Mexico University is a state school based in Portales, NM, but with another degree-granting branch found in Ruidoso. The Ruidoso campus is a two-year school with a focus on community-based learning and adult education in a variety of programs.

13. Elizabethtown College

Source

Location: Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
School Description: A private college located in Elizabethtown, PA, Elizabethtown College offers degrees in fields as disparate as information technology, engineering, and humanities. The school has a focus on student service, with over 600 students and faculty participating annually in programs like Elizabethtown’s “Into the Streets” program.

14. Averett University

Source

Location: Danville, Virginia
School Description: Averett University is a private non-profit school located in Danville, VA, originally founded as a women’s college in the mid-1800s. Nowadays, the school has a large distance-learning program and offers courses in subjects like mathematics, communications, psychology, and even equestrian studies.

15. Marylhurst University

Source

Location: Marylhurst, Oregon
School Description: A private liberal arts school located in Marylhurst, OR, Marylhurst University is one of the oldest institutions in all of Oregon. The first liberal arts college for women in the Northwest, Marylhurst University is also home to the “Art Gym,” a previously-unused athletics facility that now is home to a number of art projects, and is used to house senior art shows every year.

Wrapping Up

You’ll find our full list below, but there’s more to see here at Zippia.

Are you a high school student looking at colleges? Find out which colleges are the best for fraternities or sororities.

Or are you looking for more articles like this one? Check out which small colleges are the best in Kansas.

Rank	Institution Name	% Of Students Nontraditional Age	% Of Part-Time Students	% Of Distance Education Students
1	Excelsior College	91.84%	100.00%	100.00%
2	Capella University	96.18%	92.11%	100.00%
3	Linfield College	92.92%	95.10%	99.73%
4	American Sentinel University	97.83%	79.15%	100.00%
5	American Public University System	85.04%	91.81%	100.00%
6	Charter Oak State College	90.26%	81.04%	100.00%
7	Nazarene Bible College	91.70%	84.67%	89.40%
8	National American University	86.16%	98.74%	86.79%
9	Pennsylvania State University – World Campus	82.96%	80.62%	100.00%
10	City Vision University	89.62%	76.42%	100.00%
11	University of Maryland – University College	82.76%	82.71%	96.87%
12	Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso Campus	73.99%	82.34%	98.89%
13	Elizabethtown College	97.36%	100.00%	56.92%
14	Averett University-Non-Traditional Programs	90.82%	73.97%	80.32%
15	Marylhurst University	88.59%	73.63%	80.55%
16	Coastline Community College	73.05%	84.85%	84.82%
17	Grand Canyon University	75.18%	81.02%	78.54%
18	Peirce College	76.99%	82.14%	64.52%
19	DeVry University-Illinois	83.37%	70.67%	91.85%
20	Northeastern University Professional Advancement Network	70.27%	78.12%	66.47%
21	DeVry University-Georgia	86.37%	67.93%	82.98%
22	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide	90.11%	65.37%	93.57%
23	College of Biblical Studies-Houston	86.52%	83.69%	47.52%
24	Brandman University	90.42%	65.94%	82.92%
25	The Art Institute of Pittsburgh-Online Division	70.93%	66.69%	100.00%
26	City University of Seattle	77.93%	64.21%	100.00%
27	Wayland Baptist University	75.03%	78.51%	49.30%
28	Goodwin College	70.05%	84.28%	49.79%
29	Concordia University-Chicago	73.05%	70.62%	58.05%
30	Georgia Piedmont Technical College	72.08%	76.28%	49.18%
31	DeVry University-Ohio	77.46%	63.94%	85.65%
32	Central Texas College	64.32%	77.70%	52.93%
33	Antioch University Online	88.31%	59.74%	100.00%
34	Great Basin College	62.81%	69.42%	81.39%
35	Holy Apostles College and Seminary	82.58%	65.16%	61.76%
36	Clarkson College	66.75%	65.79%	91.31%
37	Rasmussen College-Minnesota	67.45%	65.81%	82.51%
38	Rasmussen College-Kansas	75.95%	61.45%	99.62%
39	Franklin University	88.04%	60.27%	84.48%
40	Epic Bible College	75.81%	71.51%	47.31%
41	Southern New Hampshire University	79.32%	60.30%	91.98%
42	Park University	75.70%	63.10%	71.26%
43	University of Maine at Augusta	71.94%	64.49%	68.61%
44	Wilmington University	70.13%	63.11%	84.96%
45	SUNY Empire State College	83.61%	63.30%	58.60%
46	Davenport University	65.48%	67.34%	61.19%
47	Northwest Technical College	58.24%	70.74%	72.96%
48	Regent University	76.92%	60.04%	86.47%
49	Post University	77.75%	58.97%	91.56%
50	Lakeshore Technical College	62.78%	75.96%	46.88%
51	Rappahannock Community College	70.05%	76.98%	41.92%
52	New Mexico Junior College	56.52%	67.43%	100.00%
53	Colorado Christian University	73.02%	73.02%	42.22%
54	Florida Gateway College	59.44%	71.26%	55.49%
55	Athens State University	67.74%	59.68%	88.62%
56	Herzing University-Madison	82.09%	54.56%	92.12%
57	Western Texas College	52.40%	74.15%	78.95%
58	Columbus Technical College	59.55%	74.18%	47.18%
59	Rasmussen College-Illinois	69.34%	58.25%	87.30%
60	University of St Francis	67.27%	62.12%	59.84%
61	Heritage Christian University	69.57%	59.78%	66.30%
62	St Petersburg College	57.21%	70.72%	51.94%
63	Southwestern College	64.11%	63.02%	58.19%
64	Northcentral Technical College	55.57%	66.62%	72.93%
65	Stark State College	63.82%	72.71%	41.77%
66	Pamlico Community College	70.45%	61.74%	52.02%
67	Lake Region State College	50.57%	72.11%	86.97%
68	Lorain County Community College	61.78%	72.76%	43.12%
69	Klamath Community College	56.78%	65.36%	67.08%
70	Stratford University	72.60%	62.49%	49.17%
71	Arapahoe Community College	64.99%	80.27%	37.64%
72	Fayetteville Technical Community College	62.16%	60.95%	65.13%
73	Rasmussen College-Wisconsin	69.42%	54.07%	95.28%
74	Stanly Community College	57.83%	62.56%	80.30%
75	Liberty University	71.61%	52.90%	90.09%
76	Yavapai College	66.78%	74.45%	37.85%
77	Lenoir Community College	60.21%	61.23%	68.66%
78	Marygrove College	66.96%	60.80%	55.51%
79	Minnesota West Community and Technical College	61.20%	63.38%	57.04%
80	Terra State Community College	59.46%	71.38%	44.23%
81	Metropolitan State University	73.41%	65.30%	43.01%
82	Technical College of the Lowcountry	55.96%	71.48%	48.46%
83	Rasmussen College-Florida	76.30%	49.26%	94.22%
84	Webster University	81.85%	67.59%	37.49%
85	Maryville University of Saint Louis	65.68%	65.87%	44.28%
86	Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City	53.51%	68.49%	59.89%
87	Virginia Baptist College	62.96%	56.48%	74.07%
88	LIU Riverhead	72.85%	64.24%	43.05%
89	Cedar Valley College	57.09%	71.77%	44.17%
90	Kennebec Valley Community College	62.37%	73.31%	38.08%
91	McDowell Technical Community College	63.38%	67.00%	43.13%
92	College of the Siskiyous	61.69%	65.73%	46.12%
93	Central Ohio Technical College	59.03%	72.83%	41.03%
94	University of Maine at Fort Kent	56.64%	62.60%	61.26%
95	Clark State Community College	59.09%	71.56%	40.90%
96	The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences	48.03%	71.10%	74.90%
97	Kirtland Community College	55.28%	68.06%	49.08%
98	Central Georgia Technical College	62.10%	66.18%	43.25%
99	Granite State College	74.25%	47.45%	81.83%

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Ryan Morris

Ryan Morris was a writer for the Zippia Advice blog who tried to make the job process a little more entertaining for all those involved. He obtained his BA and Masters from Appalachian State University.

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