Many adults can’t put their jobs aside to be full-time students. They have to work while they learn to provide for themselves, and oftentimes, families too. That’s why Calbright is designed for working learners. People who need an education to access their next career step, but whose careers and the need to cover housing, food, and other basic needs won’t stop while they do.
Calbright is made for adult learners, and it shows: 92% of Calbright students are over the age of 25. Twenty six percent are parents or caregivers. According to statistics compiled in October 2026, more than half of Calbright’s students – 63% – are working when they enroll.
Among those students, another 62% work more than 40 hours a week, and 6.5% work more than 50 hours a week. About 10% are holding two jobs.
They come to Calbright because our programs are designed to support them and work with their lives – we don’t ask them to change their lives to go to college. Calbright’s Competency-Based Education model lets them study on their own time, take classes when it works with their schedules, and study at their own pace, moving as quickly as they want and taking all the extra time they need.
Seventy percent of Calbright students are looking for at least one of three career-focused educational goals:
- earning a career technical certificate,
- preparing for a new career, or
- advancing in their current career.
Additionally, Calbright offers programs to help them do meet these goals: Instead of traditional degree programs that can take years to complete and often require classes that have nothing to do with a student’s goals or career, Calbright offers certificates in industry-valued skills, like IT Support, Data Analysis, Project Management, and Cybersecurity, which demonstrate clear mastery in areas employers are hiring for, and which can be completed in just months.
Most importantly, it works.
According to preliminary results compiled by several years of program evaluations, ongoing student satisfaction surveys, a 2025 alumni impact study by Calbright’s R&D team, and independent non-profit CredLens, Calbright students who completed their programs and had reportable wage data saw a $10,400 median increase in annual earnings.
Additionally:
- 67% of graduates say they gained an in-depth knowledge of their field
- 65% say they developed better work or career skills
- 62% say they learned to think critically
These are the kind of results that working learners look for in an education – and that they can get, when we design systems to meet their needs.
