Online learning bridges gap for working adults
For 31 years, Bobby Adamo built a life and a career in Chicago. A busy husband and father and an employee at a premier wine and spirits distributor, Adamo had achieved plenty. Yet, a persistent voice in the back of his mind kept pointing out what was missing: a bachelor’s degree.
Though he’d earned an associate degree in 2011, life’s demands kept pushing a four-year degree further down his to-do list.
“When I initially reached out to UW–Madison for information, I was 48 years old, married, with a 2-year-old son, a full-time job, living in the Chicago suburbs,” Adamo recalled. “Any [degree] program that involved in-person classes just wasn’t going to be feasible for me.”
Celebrating online learners
Learning online has become so common that there’s now a National Online Learning Day, observed annually on September 15. Established in 2016 to recognize how technology bridges the gap for students like Adamo, National Online Learning Day celebrates students who earn high school diplomas, professional certificates and college degrees through flexible online formats.
Adamo made his online learning leap in the summer of 2024, enrolling in the Wisconsin School of Business through UW–Madison Online to pursue his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management. The program delivers fully online degree completion designed specifically for working and other adult learners.
For Adamo, the format made the impossible attainable. Classes run in accelerated eight-week sessions and are largely asynchronous, meaning students complete assignments around their own daily schedules.
“Most days, I start my schoolwork after my son’s bedtime,” Adamo said. “The flexibility afforded by asynchronous online classes has been invaluable. In two years, the conflicts between school and the rest of my busy life have been very rare.”
Finding connection from a distance
While initial worries about cost, academic ability and the toll on family life are common for returning adult students, Adamo found his footing within weeks.
Beyond academics, he intentionally sought out community. He stays connected through online discussion forums, has built friendships with fellow adult learners in his cohort and even traveled to campus to attend a scholarship recipients’ banquet, tour the business school and meet faculty in person.
“I’m not going to pretend that what I’m doing replicates the experience of a young adult leaving the nest for the first time,” Adamo reflected. “However, like those Gen Z coeds, I was in unfamiliar territory, learning a lot about myself and leaning on my peers to help me along the way.”
Now on track to graduate in Spring 2027, Adamo notes that while he doesn’t yet know how he will use his bachelor’s degree, his employer does provide excellent opportunities for advancement. He has nothing but praise for his educational pathway.
“Honestly, a part of me will be sad when it’s over,” Adamo said. “It has been a tremendous experience that I will cherish forever. As my classmates in the Class of 2027 might say, the online degree is 10 out of 10, no notes.”
The Lifelong Learner is a monthly feature written by UW–Madison’s Division of Continuing Studies staff. Anne Niendorf, an academic advising manager, can be reached at anne.niendorf@wisc.edu.
Post co-written by Jill Schaefer.
This article first appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on September 13, 2026.
Published on Sep 15 2026
Categories: Student stories, University Special Student Services
Tags: adult learners, bachelor’s degree, business, online
