The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of older adult students who learn in a community college academic environment. The rationale for the study stemmed from a lack of knowledge regarding this group's experiences. The research question asked in this study was the following: "How do older adult students in a community college setting experience and describe learning?" The theoretical framework of the dissertation was adult learning theory, and the methodology for this study was a generic qualitative inquiry, which was chosen to encourage descriptions of participant experiences through interviews based on semistructured, open-ended questions. The population consisted of students between the ages of 40 to 65 years of age who were attending community college classes in the United States. From this population, a sample consisting of two men and eight women from seven community colleges in the United States participated in the study. The thematic analysis of the interviews with constant comparison was used and yielded five themes: (a) improved self-efficacy, (b) reliance on metacognition, (c) awareness of self-regulated learning behaviors, (d) importance of meaning-making, and (e) need for a support structure. The results indicated that older adult learners in the study described challenges in their classroom experiences related to self-efficacy and the selection of effective learning strategies. The findings suggest that there is an opportunity to include effective content-specific learning strategies in classes so those students who are not skilled in learning strategy selection can improve their self-regulated learning skill set. The participants' need to connect with other older students was an additional important outcome of this study. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]