Students 22 years of age and older clearly have counseling needs and instructional preferences that differ from those of college-age students. These conclusions were reached after a survey of 6,500 students in 27 diverse junior/community colleges. Among the major findings of the study were: (1) older students were less likely to experience academic problems than their college-age counterparts, tended to carry less heavy academic loads, and tended to be more motivated; (2) older students may need encouragement that higher aspirations are realistic; (3) program uncertainty seemed widespread among college-age students while only a few older students were uncertain about educational goals; (4) older students preferred instructor-centered instruction while college-age students preferred student-centered instruction; (5) college-age students were the most likely to feel unchallenged by their classes while students over 30 were six times as likely as students under 22 to be satisfied with instruction; and (6) older students generally spent more time studying than college-age students. The growing numbers of older students appear certain to require increased emphasis on quality of instruction and new approaches to counseling, particularly to help students budget time and balance their on- and off-campus roles. (Author/JDS)