Expanding the Broadening Participation in Engineering Focus to Include Data on Nontraditional Students

Abstract Based on the definition of nontraditional undergraduate students from the U.S. Department of Education, nontraditional undergraduate students are identified as having one or more of seven characteristics. However, some of these characteristics (e.g., delayed enrollment, having dependents, being a single parent, working full-time, and receiving a non-standard high school diploma) are difficult to extract directly using publicly available institutional data sources. Nontraditional students are the fastest-growing population in higher education, and some nontraditional groups, like adult learners, consist of a disproportionately high number of Black (28%) and Latinx/e (21%) learners. To date, however, there is no complete dataset on nontraditional student learners available within engineering education. This work-in-progress paper addresses the lack of institutional data for nontraditional undergraduate engineering students, focusing on a large, public Minority Serving Institution that also graduates among the highest Latinx/e and Black undergraduate engineering students in the country. Utilizing various data sources, the authors provide retention and graduation data for students at this institution and will separate this data across each of the seven characteristics referenced above. This study, which is part of a larger three-year Broadening Participation in Engineering project, will offer insights into trends associated with an understudied and extremely diverse population.