Despite delaying their college education, nontraditional college graduates — those who earn their degree at age 25 or older — have personal income later in life that are comparable to those of traditional graduates, or those who earn their degree before turning 25, according to Gallup.
Gallup’s study is based on surveys with almost 4,000 traditional college graduates and roughly 7,500 nontraditional college graduates who obtained their degree between 1990 and 2014.
Presently, the average age of a traditional graduate who earned their degree between 1990-2014 is 33 years old, compared to 45 years for nontraditional graduates.
This may indicate that nontraditional graduates are “paying” for delaying their education because, all things being equal, older individuals would expect to out-earn their younger counterparts, not tie with them.
But, of course, all things are not equal — and it is likely that many of these nontraditional graduates, had they not gone back to college, would be earning much less than traditional college graduates.
The percentage of nontraditional college graduates has nearly doubled in recent decades, from 16% in the 1970’s to 32% for 2000-2014 graduates, according to the Gallup-Purdue index.
Colleges are noticing a rising number of older students on campus, as adults look to develop new
skills, change careers or simply finish their education.