ABSTRACT
Mathematical type college courses can be especially problematic for adult undergraduate students as failure rate in Accounting, Algebra, Calculus, Finance, and Statistics tend to far exceed other courses. Students experience math-based concepts to be anxiety-prone which can undermine a successful college experience. Often, students who fear they will underperform do so, thus realizing a self-fulfilling prophecy. Student self-efficacy could be the answer. This paper examines how students age 25 and above experience these phenomena and how they try to overcome them. The objective of this research is to examine action items adult learners can utilize to increase their self-efficacy and how institutional support can aid student success.
Keywords
quantitative courses, math anxiety, math self-efficacy, retention, adult learners, higher education