Expectation versus reality: The impact of academic advising on nontraditional community college students seeking a career chang

Positive academic advising experiences are critical to the academic success of nontraditional community college students seeking a career change. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways academic advisors help nontraditional community college students seeking a career change. The design of this study was a generic qualitative method with an interpretive approach. The study was viewed through the lens of transformative learning theory and developmental advising theory. The ways academic advising helped nontraditional community college students seeking a career change were elicited through face-to-face semistructured interviews using a purposive sample of 10 men and women between the ages of 25 and 65. Inclusion criteria were nontraditional students who had (a) achieved a certificate, associate's degree, or bachelor's degree; (b) a break in schooling of at least 5 years; (c) started a career and a family; (d) reenrolled in community college for additional education; and (e) received academic advising at least once between fall 2012 and spring 2013. This study attempted to answer the following question: What are the ways academic advisors help nontraditional community college students seeking a career change? All gathered data were transferred and input to QSR NVivo 10 qualitative data analysis software to manage and analyze the data for themes. The research findings could have implications for nontraditional students, business and industry, and academic institutions. Analysis of the data produced four themes that explained the experiences of the participants: (a) other support resources, (b) positive experiences with academic advising, (c) negative experiences with academic advising, and (d) expectation versus reality. According to the results, academic advisors can help nontraditional community college students seeking a career change by personalizing the academic advising session to meet the student's needs and factor in the student's previous experiences while advising. Several recommendations were made based on the results of the study and focused on helping improve service, resources, and programs for nontraditional community college students seeking a career change.