Effects of Fees On Clientele Characteristics and Participation in Adult Education

Fifty-nine adult education courses were randomly assigned to a fee and non-fee condition to establish the extent to which fee and non-fee courses attract different clientele. Seven hundred and twenty-one participants completed the Education Participation Scale and a questionnaire eliciting social and demographic data. Nearly 70 per cent of the participants enrolled in the non- fee courses. Participants were motivated by E.P.S. factors cognitive interest and escape stimula tion. The social, demographic and motivational profile of non-fee payers was similar to that of the fee-payers. In pursuit of variable configurations that explain fee-status (paying or not paying) a multi-variate AID3 analysis was run. With fee-status as the dependent variable the independent variables accounted for 35 per cent of the variance. It was concluded that mere removal of fees from leisure-centered adult education courses does not result in the attraction of participants who are significantly different from the middle-class participants traditionally attracted to such courses. The results are discussed within the framework of Miller's force-field analysis and Boshier's congruence model.