Ways of reaching nontraditional students: an assessment

A report on dealing with nontraditional students is presented which is based on the experience of a small engineering department that enrolls about 400 students. The department is on the campus of Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Different kinds of nontraditional students are identified, with specific attention given to part-time students and their needs. The ways that were used to address the needs of nontraditional students were grouped into three categories: institutional, departmental, and individual. Although it is suggested that all three ways be used, and that, to yield positive outcomes, they need to be coordinated and integrated, it is also argued that what is done at the level of the department is the most consequential