Adult Learner Enrollment Hesitancy Survey
2026

Adult Learner Enrollment Hesitancy Survey

BestColleges' Adult Learner Enrollment Hesitancy Survey aims to identify the reasons behind adult learners' hesitation to enroll, inform institutions' strategies to reduce friction in the college decision-making process, and support adult learners pursuing their educational and career goals.

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Report Overview

This is the 11th annual BestColleges Online Education Trends Report. It is part of an initiative to track long-term trends in online learning. This is our ninth year of original data collection through two online surveys — this year's respondents include 1,000 online college students and 74 college and university administrators. Findings are presented in six categories: student demographics, the online learning experience, marketing and recruiting, online student satisfaction, artificial intelligence, and planning for the future.

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Key Findings

Education Intent and Plans

  • Interest in certificates and bootcamps collectively surpassed bachelor's degrees by 15 percentage points.
  • Learners strongly preferred online learning (77%) over in-person (29%) and hybrid (26%) options.
  • Professions with clear job outcomes proved popular, suggesting that students are increasingly pragmatic about their chosen majors.

What Is Driving Students to Enroll

  • Career advancement is the primary driver among adults considering higher education: 34% say their top motivation is to start a new career path, and 23% want to gain a specific skill or license relevant to their current job.
  • A smaller group (12%) cites earning a promotion or a pay raise as their primary motivation, which may be related to interest in skill development.
  • Not all motivations are career-focused. Twenty percent of respondents cite personal enrichment and interest as a primary reason for potentially pursuing higher education.

Barriers to Enrollment

  • Cost is the most common concern among adults considering enrollment. One-third of respondents (33%) say they are unsure whether they can afford to enroll or need more clarity about the total cost.
  • Thirty-two percent report concern about taking on additional debt, while 30% are uncertain about their financial aid eligibility.
  • Nearly half (47%) say that additional financial help — such as grants and scholarships — would play a key role in their decision to enroll.

Life Changes Influenced Enrollment Decisions

  • Twenty-one percent of respondents interested in higher education reported experiencing job loss or layoffs, and 20% said they now had reduced work hours.
  • Many respondents (41%) reported increases in the cost of living.
  • Respondents also frequently cited mental health challenges, such as stress, burnout, or anxiety (37%), followed by personal physical health challenges (30%) as the cause for their delay in enrollment.

Perception of Educational Value

  • About half of the respondents consider a bachelor's program either "worth it" (28%) or "very worth it" (21%) today. Another 45% describe it as "somewhat worth it," while only 6% view it as "not worth it."
  • The majority of respondents recognize value in higher education — even those who are not planning to enroll. However, many in this group consider a degree only "somewhat worth it," rather than expressing greater confidence.

Financial Perception

  • A majority (59%) say higher education is "much too expensive," with an additional 18% describing it as "somewhat too expensive." Together, 77% view the cost as too high.
  • Almost all respondents who were not interested in higher education said they did not view higher education as financially viable. Only 1% say it is affordable as-is, while 5% say financial aid makes it manageable. Another 5% say cost may be reasonable if the return on investment (ROI) is clearer.

Media Mentions

Online Learning Consortium (OLC) United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) DT&L Conference

Our Research Methodology

We help make sense of the latest trends through our proprietary research, data analysis, and expert insights. Our Trends Reports, Survey Reports, and Data Reports explore pressing issues, such as online learning, student demographics, and the rising cost of college.

How We Collect Data

BestColleges collects data through online surveys. Some data is collected by our outreach team using platforms such as Qualtrics. We also partner with survey providers, like GLG Research and YouGov LLC, to reach broader audiences of college students, business leaders, and adults in the U.S. Partners use screening tools like RelevantID and manually review data for consistency and accuracy.

How We Find Survey Participants

Our outreach team uses BestColleges' contact mailing lists to encourage participation in relevant surveys. Our survey partners use a census-based quota sampling approach to provide a sample that represents the U.S. population through their expert and panel networks. Additional quotas are also implemented to ensure samples include gender and racial diversity.

Are Survey Participants Compensated?

Participants responding to our outreach team's survey requests are not compensated. However, some of our survey partners and their panel and expert networks do compensate participants in different ways.

Our Knowledge and Authority

Our surveys are designed by an in-house team with expertise in academic and market research, data analysis, and editing. Surveys conducted through our partners are additionally reviewed by their quantitative research experts. Since 2016, BestColleges Research has provided insights to higher education stakeholders through a variety of publications and conference presentations.

Meet the Contributors

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Amarilis Yera

Editor / Writer

Expertise: Accounting, Business Administration, Business Management, MBAs, Marketing, Human Resources, Consumer Credit

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Cameren Boatner

Editor / Writer

Expertise: DEI, Campus Free Speech, Financial Aid, Title IX, LGBTQ+ students

Scott Harris
Scott Harris

Editor / Writer

Expertise: Healthcare, Nursing, Higher education, Science, Sports

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Taína Cuevas

Editor

Education: BA Visual and Communication Arts and Italian, Franklin University Switzerland, Post Graduate Training in Print Journalism, Boston University

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