"The Condition of Education" summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest data available. The 2002 edition included a special analysis that describes nontraditional undergraduates in terms of their demographic characteristics, enrollment patterns, ways of combining school and work, participation in distance education, and persistence patterns. The special analysis is reprinted in this document as a separate volume. In today's higher education context, the "traditional" undergraduate has become the exception rather than the rule. In the 1999-2000 academic year, just 27% of all undergraduates met the criteria of enrolling immediately after high school, depending on parents for financial support, and working only part-time or not at all. The first part of this discussion uses National Postsecondary Student Aid Study information to describe nontraditional students. The second part examines the relationship between nontraditional status and persistence using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Studies, which followed cohorts of students enrolling in postsecondary education for the first time in the school years 1989-1990 and 1995-1996. Findings show that the most highly nontraditional students (those with four or more nontraditional characteristics) were concentrated in public two-year institutions, with two-thirds enrolled in this kind of institution. Two-thirds of nontraditional students perceived their primary role to be that of an employee, and among those who considered themselves primarily students, many found that work limited their class and scheduling options. Nontraditional students were more likely to leave without a degree than traditional students, and were most at risk of dropping out during the first year. (SLD)