Financial Aid for Adult Learners Returning to College

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Adult learn­ers often face unique chal­lenges like bal­anc­ing work, fam­i­ly, and school respon­si­bil­i­ties while nav­i­gat­ing lim­it­ed time and finan­cial resources.
• Fed­er­al finan­cial aid through FAFSA is avail­able to adult learn­ers and can unlock Pell Grants, sub­si­dized loans, and work-study opportunities.
• State and insti­tu­tion­al finan­cial aid options—like grants, schol­ar­ships, tuition dis­counts, and cred­it for life experience—can sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce edu­ca­tion costs.
• Adult stu­dents can find tar­get­ed finan­cial sup­port through pri­vate schol­ar­ships, employ­er tuition assis­tance, and work­force devel­op­ment pro­grams such as WIOA.

Many peo­ple don’t have their career paths fig­ured out in their 20s, and it’s com­mon to be still ques­tion­ing your career well into your 30s, 40s, or 50s. Life circumstances—like mar­riage, par­ent­ing, or finan­cial pressure—often lead peo­ple to choose jobs for sta­bil­i­ty rather than passion.

Late­ly, side hus­tles have become a pop­u­lar way to tap into cre­ativ­i­ty and explore new paths. But what if your dream career actu­al­ly needs a degree or for­mal train­ing? Is it too late to go back to school? Of course not!

But with every­thing already on your plate, going back to col­lege as an adult isn’t exact­ly easy. And to make things tougher, tuition and fees keep creep­ing up by around 4% each year.

For­tu­nate­ly, there are tons of finan­cial aid for adult learn­ers avail­able to help you pay for school. And in this guide, we’re going to break down all the things you need to know about return­ing to col­lege finan­cial aid programs.

Relat­ed:

• Moti­va­tion and Per­sis­tence: Keys to Suc­cess for Adult Online Learners
• Lever­ag­ing Online Learn­ing: Flex­i­bil­i­ty for the Work­ing Adult Student
• Inno­v­a­tive Online Degrees for Cre­ative Professionals
• Nav­i­gat­ing Dig­i­tal Plat­forms: Essen­tial Tech Skills for Online Learners
• Best Self-Paced Online Colleges
• Online Two-Year Bachelor’s Degrees
• Top Afford­able Online Bachelor’s Degrees with High Salaries

Understanding the Unique Challenges Adult Learners Face

Unlike teens in a tra­di­tion­al school sys­tem, adult learn­ers deal with a whole dif­fer­ent set of chal­lenges in college.

• Jug­gling work, fam­i­ly, and school: Between jobs, kids, and dai­ly respon­si­bil­i­ties, find­ing time to study can feel near­ly impossible.
• Lim­it­ed time or sav­ings for tuition: Most adults don’t have a col­lege fund sit­ting around.
• Unaware of finan­cial assis­tance for adult learn­ers: Many peo­ple assume aid is just for 18-year-olds fresh out of high school. This is not true at all!
• Feel­ing out of place or behind: It’s easy to feel like you’re “too late” to start, even though so many oth­ers are in the same boat.

Types of Financial Aid Available for Adult Learners

1. Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA)

FAFSA is not only meant for fresh high school grads. Fed­er­al finan­cial aid will remain on the table, no mat­ter your age.

As an inde­pen­dent stu­dent, you don’t need to include your par­ents’ finan­cial info; just your own. Most adult learn­ers fall into this cat­e­go­ry auto­mat­i­cal­ly if:

• You’re 24 or older
• You’re mar­ried
• You have chil­dren or depen­dents you support
• You’re a vet­er­an or active-duty military
• You’re a grad­u­ate or pro­fes­sion­al student
• You’re an eman­ci­pat­ed minor or in legal guardianship

There are a few oth­er sit­u­a­tions, and FAFSA will guide you through them.

All you need to do is fill out the FAFSA for adult stu­dents, and it can open the door to all kinds of finan­cial sup­port, like:

• Pell Grants: This is mon­ey you don’t have to pay back, and it’s based on your finan­cial need.
• Fed­er­al Loans: This return­ing to col­lege finan­cial aid comes in two types—subsidized and unsubsidized.
• Work-Study Pro­grams: These offer part-time jobs on or near cam­pus to help you earn mon­ey while you study.

2. State Financial Aid

A lot of states have their own col­lege grants for adults return­ing to school. For exam­ple, Mary­land offers sev­er­al schol­ar­ships through the Mary­land High­er Edu­ca­tion Commission.

But it’s not just Maryland.

Most states have sim­i­lar pro­grams to sup­port stu­dents who live there. Take Cal­i­for­nia, for instance, which offers the Cal Grant, which pro­vides finan­cial aid to stu­dents attend­ing col­lege in the state. Texas has the Texas Grant, which helps out stu­dents with finan­cial need at pub­lic schools there.

These pro­grams usu­al­ly have some rules you have to meet, like:

1. liv­ing in the state
2. income lim­its
3. grades

There­fore, it’s a good idea to ver­i­fy the details for your location.

Some states even offer tuition assis­tance for adult learn­ers attend­ing pri­vate schools or those in oth­er states through spe­cial agree­ments, but this is not very common.

3. Institutional Aid

This non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dent finan­cial aid could be in the form of:

• Schol­ar­ships or Tuition Dis­counts: Some schools offer these specif­i­cal­ly for adult learn­ers. It’s their way of sup­port­ing stu­dents like you who are jug­gling school with oth­er responsibilities.
• Cred­it for Life Expe­ri­ence: If you’ve been work­ing in your field for a while or have oth­er life expe­ri­ence, some schools let you earn col­lege cred­it for it. That can shave time off your degree.
• Flex­i­ble Pro­grams: Look for schools offer­ing things like night class­es, week­end class­es, or even online pro­grams designed to work with your sched­ule. Some schools even have accel­er­at­ed pro­grams that let you fin­ish your degree faster.

4. Private Scholarships and Grants

There are also tons of pri­vate grants and schol­ar­ships for adult stu­dents out there. These usu­al­ly come from com­pa­nies, non­prof­its, or foun­da­tions, and some are even made specif­i­cal­ly for cer­tain groups like sin­gle par­ents, vet­er­ans, or peo­ple going back to school lat­er in life.

A few of the best places to look for these schol­ar­ships and grants for adults going back to col­lege are:

• Fast­web
• Scholarships.com
• Bold.org
• Scholarships360
• Sallie.com

Top Scholarships and Grants for Adult Learners

Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation Grant

This grant is one of the top col­lege grants for adults return­ing to school, par­tic­u­lar­ly for low-income women with chil­dren. Awards up to $5,000 to help cov­er school-relat­ed expenses.

Jeannette Rankin Women’s Scholarship Fund

For adult women aged 35 and old­er with low income who are work­ing toward a tech­ni­cal or voca­tion­al edu­ca­tion, an asso­ci­ate’s degree, or a first bach­e­lor’s degree.

Imagine America Foundation – Adult Skills Education Program (ASEP)

Designed for adult stu­dents enrolling in career or tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion pro­grams at par­tic­i­pat­ing col­leges. Offers a one-time $1,000 award.

Return2College Scholarship

Open to adults 17 and old­er who are return­ing to col­lege or plan­ning to start. It’s a sim­ple application—just a short essay about why you’re going back to school.

College JumpStart Scholarship

For non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dents, includ­ing adult learn­ers, who are com­mit­ted to using edu­ca­tion to improve their lives. Awards up to $1,000.

Boomer Benefits Scholarship

Cre­at­ed to sup­port adult learn­ers and non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dents. Appli­cants write an essay about their edu­ca­tion­al goals and challenges.

Executive Women International – Adult Students in Scholastic Transition (ASIST)

ASIST is a top provider of schol­ar­ships for adult stu­dents. They pro­vide finan­cial sup­port to adult stu­dents who are fac­ing eco­nom­ic, social, or phys­i­cal chal­lenges and are look­ing to improve their lives through education.

Employer Tuition Assistance and Workforce Development Programs

Check with your employ­er also for any tuition assis­tance for adult learn­ers. Even if you work for a small­er com­pa­ny, it’s worth ask­ing. More and more com­pa­nies are offer­ing tuition assis­tance pro­grams, espe­cial­ly if you’re study­ing some­thing that can ben­e­fit your work or the com­pa­ny overall.

For exam­ple:

• Ama­zon’s Career Choice Pro­gram – Cov­ers up to 95% of tuition for employ­ees study­ing high-demand fields like health­care, IT, and transportation.
• Star­bucks Col­lege Achieve­ment Plan – Offers full tuition cov­er­age for eli­gi­ble employ­ees who enroll in online degree pro­grams through Ari­zona State University.

Also, don’t for­get about fed­er­al finan­cial help for old­er stu­dents like WIOA (Work­force Inno­va­tion and Oppor­tu­ni­ty Act).

Tips for Adult Learners Applying for Financial Aid

Here are a few tips to make the process easier:

1. Fill out FAFSA even if unsure of eli­gi­bil­i­ty. It’s free, and you might be sur­prised by what return­ing to col­lege finan­cial aid pro­grams you’re eli­gi­ble for.
2. Research state dead­lines and local pro­grams. Many states and cities offer finan­cial aid specif­i­cal­ly for adult learn­ers. A lit­tle research could save you hundreds.
3. Con­tact col­lege finan­cial aid offices for non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dent options. Finan­cial aid offices are there to help you nav­i­gate the process.
4. Use schol­ar­ship data­bas­es to search for finan­cial aid for adult learn­ers: Fast­Web, Bold.org, Scholarships.com.
5. Write strong, per­son­al schol­ar­ship essays that high­light life experience.

You can vis­it NAS­FAA’s Tips for Stu­dents for more tips!

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Believing you’re too old to qualify for aid

Nope, age does­n’t dis­qual­i­fy you from finan­cial aid. If you meet the cri­te­ria, you can get help.

Missing FAFSA or scholarship deadlines

Finan­cial assis­tance for adult learners—sometimes strict ones. It’s often on a first-come, first-served basis. Make sure you’re on top of them.

Not asking for help from financial aid counselors

If you’re con­fused, don’t hes­i­tate to ask. Finan­cial aid coun­selors are there to guide you and help you avoid mistakes.

Forgetting to apply every year

Some finan­cial aid, like Pell Grants, requires you to apply every year. Don’t for­get to process the FAFSA for adult stu­dents every year!

Taking on unnecessary debt before exploring free options

Before you go for loans, look for grants and schol­ar­ships first. You want to min­i­mize how much debt you take on.

Conclusion

Going back to school as an adult is a big deci­sion, but it’s also a chance to invest in your­self and your future. For­tu­nate­ly, finan­cial aid for adult learn­ers is out there to help make this jour­ney a bit easier.

How­ev­er, apply­ing for finan­cial aid like schol­ar­ships and grants for adults going back to col­lege can be com­pet­i­tive. So make sure to ask for help and stay on top of deadlines.

You’ve got options—plenty of them—and now that you know what they are, it’s time to get started.