Adult student numbers increase across Queensland universities
Summer Johnstone starts college this year but won’t enter the profession until she’s at least 27.
“I wanted to be sure of what I was going to do… I just wanted something to be a passion,” he said.
“A lot of my friends flocked to the courses and then switched to two different courses in the middle of the year.”
Johnstone, who is pursuing a dual bachelor’s degree in architecture and construction management at Griffith University, joins more than 17,500 adult entry students statewide in 2026; This number is increasing every year.
The Queensland Higher Education Admissions Center on Thursday released its second and largest university course offer round, sending good news to nearly 14,000 students across the state.
Since Queensland university offers became available in late 2025, approximately 48,700 applications have been accepted onto these courses, with approximately 36 per cent of these being mature-age students.
Adult students are students who do not come directly from school and are usually aged 21 or over.
But for students like 19-year-old Johnstone who did not take an ATAR, the post-secondary gap may be smaller.
Other adult candidates also left their past careers behind, like 21-year-old Jeremy Hauter, who left his job as a security technician to study for a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy.
“The reason I originally chose my career option as a tradesman was because I was told in high school that I wasn’t good enough to go to college and study medical science,” Hauter said.
“March-April 2024 was when I became aware of this career. [in security] “It wasn’t for me.”
Hauter said the environment at his old workplace where he apprenticed was a key part of his decision.
“I was working every weekend, traveling all the time, not being able to go see my family, and being constantly mocked by my employers,” she said.
“I was increasingly worried about my career.”
The Redcliffe native, who started his new path at Griffith University this year, is one of 6,261 adult students undertaking a health-related degree, the most common area of study for students of all age groups.
While the number of students accepted as adults to Queensland universities remains between 35 and 38 per cent annually, the actual number is increasing.
From the start of 2024 to 2026, the overall number of applications increased by nearly 12 percent, meaning there were 2,500 more adult applications this year than three years ago.
The most offers from any institution in 2026 came from the University of Queensland, particularly its honors undergraduate engineering programme.
But the most frequently offered course for adult students only was the bachelor of business administration program at the Queensland University of Technology, followed by the bachelor of arts at UQ and the online higher education foundation track offered at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Following Thursday’s major bidding round, additional quotas for courses starting in the first half of the year were expected to be made by the end of February.
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