Higher education faces a significant demographic shift — with a projected 13% decline in high school graduates between 2025 and 2041 narrowing the traditional learner pipeline. For community colleges, adult learners are already a core part of campus life. But within this group, those with some college, no credential (SCNC) remain an under-leveraged population, often overlooked despite their readiness to return.

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data shows that when SCNC learners don’t return to their original school, they are most likely to choose a community college. The opportunity is significant — but seizing it requires a fundamental shift in strategy.

In this post, we explore actionable strategies for re-enrolling adult SCNC learners at your community college, drawing on the work underway at Delaware County Community College (DCCC) — a mid-sized institution in metro Philadelphia and a ReUp partner.

Proactive outreach is essential for re-engaging adult learners

Most colleges take a reactive stance with SCNC learners, waiting for those who have already raised their hand to signal interest. But the reality is that the majority of stopped-out learners won’t contact you first.

Before its strategic shift, DCCC’s efforts to reach stopped-out learners were well-intentioned but scattered — exit interviews with low response rates, social media searches, and mass emails that lacked consistency. These efforts were labor-intensive and produced minimal results because they weren’t part of a sustained, proactive strategy.

DCCC recognized that ad-hoc campaigns weren’t addressing the real needs of adult learners or the college’s own goals. Instead of waiting for stop-outs to return on their own, the college shifted to treating this group as a distinct segment in its enrollment strategy — intentionally finding, connecting with, and supporting learners every step of the way. That shift ultimately led them to partner with ReUp.

Real-world barriers stand between adult learners and re-enrollment

Serving adult learners starts with understanding what led them to stop out. It’s rarely a single event. More often it’s a complex mix of work-family-school conflict, financial hardship, and the mental load of navigating a bureaucratic system.

At many community colleges, the “non-traditional” learner is effectively the traditional learner. Yet support systems — from 9-to-5 advising hours to rigid academic calendars — are often still built for 18-year-olds fresh out of high school.

Key barriers for adults returning to college include:

• Financial hurdles. Institutional debt, textbook costs, and unmet needs frequently block adult learners before they even re-enroll.
• Inflexible schedules. Many students need evening, weekend, or online courses to balance work and family commitments.
• Lack of time. Accelerated terms — like eight-week sessions — and varied course formats are associated with higher success rates for this population.

Removing real-world obstacles, not just academic ones, is what creates genuine pathways for adults to complete their credentials.

Language and personalization foster belonging for returning adult learners

Many community colleges take a passive approach to re-engaging stopped-out learners — hoping that occasional email or direct mail communications will bring them back. But truly connecting with this population requires a dedicated strategy, just as institutions have developed for first-generation students or veterans.

It starts with language. At DCCC, the college made a simple but meaningful change: because terms like “stop-outs” or “drop-outs” carry negative connotations, they began referring to this group as “ReUppers.”

That shift signaled a deeper change in how staff thought about and engaged with adult learners. It fostered a more inclusive approach — one focused not just on getting learners to apply, but on creating a continuum of care that supports them at every touchpoint, from the first email through to graduation.

One example: DCCC extended its personalized welcome videos — a tool previously reserved for new freshmen — to its SCNC population. That small gesture sent a powerful message: we see you, and you belong here.

Strategic partnerships help community colleges scale re-enrollment

A common objection to launching a dedicated re-enrollment campaign is a lack of resources. “We don’t have the staff” is a frequent refrain. This is where reframing partnership becomes critical.

DCCC viewed its collaboration with ReUp not as outsourcing a task, but as building capacity. In just one year of partnership, DCCC re-enrolled 1,329 learners and recovered $1.5 million in tuition revenue.

Partnering with ReUp freed DCCC’s internal teams to focus on what they do best — supporting learners once they’re back on campus. With outreach and coaching lifted, the college redirected its energy toward high-impact initiatives: building workforce pipelines with local employers and creating pathways where businesses provide tuition assistance for returning adults who will fill their talent needs.

That’s what it looks like when a college leverages partnership to amplify its own strengths.

What’s Inside:

Practical Steps for Community Colleges to Re-Enroll Adult Learners

Discover actionable steps to remove barriers, personalize outreach, and support adult learners on their journey back to your community college.

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