**2. The times are A-Changin'**

A sea change is underway in higher education. Demographic, economic, and cultural factors [5] are altering the landscape of students applying to college. Using county-level data for each state, The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) can predict eighteen years in advance what the college applicant pool will potentially look like. WICHE currently forecasts a marked decrease in the number of White students applying to college – a 17 percent decline from public and 26 percent from private high schools in the next fifteen years. As WICHE "Data Insights" concludes, "The decreasing number of White high school graduates will be counterbalanced over the next decade by a swift growth in the number of Hispanic graduates, in particular, and Asian/Pacific Islanders ([6], p. 2). In the next decade, Hispanic high school students applying to college are projected to increase by almost 50 percent. Similarly, in the next fifteen years, there will be an expected increase of 30 percent among Asian/Pacific Islanders ([6], p. 2). Equally important, many of the students applying to college will be first-generation and/or PELL-grant students (representing all races).

The students on a college campus in the near future will look very different than those in the past (i.e., after the codification of the GI Bill in 1944 and the Higher Education Act of 1965). While the types of students applying to college will differ, there is one constant: "College is the bridge between potential and opportunity" ([5], p. XII). McGee reaffirms that a college education affords "greater job opportunities, more employment security, and higher immediate and lifetime earnings" ([5], p. 85). Additionally, virtually all liberal arts educators tout the intangible benefits of a college education, including living a fuller life, having better physical and mental health, solving problems, communicating clearly (both orally and in writing), working in teams, and being more introspective ([7], pp. 1–4). Other benefits of a college education include having "greater intellectual, artistic, and critical thinking skills, civic mindedness, marital stability, self-esteem, more successful children, greater ethnic and gender tolerance … than their non-college counterparts" [8].

Based on the tangible and intangible benefits of a college education, universities have a high-stakes responsibility not only to educate students. They must also prepare students for their academic, career, and life goals. For those students who express an interest in political science, we cannot assume that all students entering college are prepared. As Nunn ([9], pp. 2-3) points out:

It's important to remember that what looks like intellectual talent is likely the product of excellent academic preparation from high school and earlier … A great number of U.S. high school schools do not adequately prepare students for the demands of college academics. …. At average and low-performing high *A Demographic Shift in College Students: A Preparatory Guide for Political Scientists… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98804*

schools – the kinds of schools where many first-generation college students are likely to have attended – academic success is rooted in completing busywork assignments such as copying notes from the board and memorization without critical thinking.

As we teach our classes, we tend to use the same lectures, the same books, articles, and other sources, and the same teaching tools and tricks we observed in college and graduate school and learned as early-career faculty members. Yet, the students are not the same.

Current and future students see the world from a different perspective than during our formative years in higher education. While ultimately students must take ownership for their success, political scientists must also properly prepare students for the rigors of college. As educators, we must adapt to the changing demographic, cultural, and social forces. Otherwise, our expectation that we will have a captive audience when we teach may not be the case. There are certain best pedagogical practices that lead to academic student success.
