Mature students and revolving poverty

This thesis explores, in some depth, the life conditions that led to the prior impoverishment of seventy-two percent of full-time mature students at Acadia University in 1991-92, why and how they discovered means and ways to attend university, and whether their impoverishment had been inherited across generations. The central argument is that impoverished life conditions often led to lack of completion of high school, and were the principal motivation for attending university, and presented immense problems in accessing a university education. Findings from in depth semi-structured interviews support data from earlier studies regarding the highly negative impact of impoverished conditions on life chances. The study provides empirical grounds for recommendations to university communities to improve their existing programs for the full-time mature student population.