Adult basic education students manage adult responsibilities and obligations and personal goals related to school. They commit their time and limited resources and thus are investors in their own learning. As investors, their voices matter. When one countywide adult basic education program implemented a systemic plan to ask students upon entry what they hoped to gain from participation in adult basic education, a number of findings were discovered that gave insights regarding the nature of adult basic education students, COVID influences, and programmatic implications and applications. This study was conducted over two separate school years, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, with a total of 439 participants.