There Goes the Grading Curve: The Development of the Attitudes toward Non-Traditional Students Scale

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument allowing the assessment of attitudes toward non-traditional students. A non-traditional student is defined as a person for whom going to school is not his or her full-time job. One hundred forty-eight undergraduates completed a 75 item survey assessing their attitudes toward non-traditional students. The data were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis that revealed the presence of two factors. The first factor consisted of primarily positive statements and accounted for 14.9% of the variance. The second factor consisted of negative statements and accounted for 8.97% of the variance. Implications for colleges and universities are discussed.