This symposium paper reviews the literature on adult students in higher education and offers a model of their collegiate experiences. The review is organized according to the following themes: adults' experiences in higher education, social and psychological concerns, the role of the classroom, adult cognition, the adult-world surroundings, and adults' success in college. Also discussed are three alternative frameworks for conceptualizing and researching adult involvement. These include schema that examine learner involvement through adult life roles, learner participation in lifelong learning, and learner participation in a post-modern society. Also proposed is a comprehensive model that considers the relationships among six major elements related to adults' collegiate experiences: (1) prior experiences; (2) orienting frameworks such as motivation, self-confidence, and value system; (3) adult cognition, including declarative, procedural, and self-regulating knowledge structures and processes; (4) the "connecting classroom" as the central avenue for social engagement and for negotiating meaning for learning; (5) the life-world environment and the concurrent work, family, and community settings; and (6) the different types and levels of learning outcomes experienced by adults. A chart summarizing research is attached. (Contains 84 references.) (DB)