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With the economic shifts that have caused the loss of jobs in manufacturing, adults who have spent many years in the workforce are now returning to the open doors of the community colleges for retraining. These adult workers, now students, are changing the face of the community college campuses. Many workers laid-off from the textile and apparel industries in Virginia, USA, are able to attend college for the first time because of benefits available to them through the North American Free Trade Agreement's Transitional Adjustment Allowance (TAA), designed to offset American job losses due to trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. The TAA includes 26 weeks of unemployment compensation followed by 52 weeks of additional compensation, as well as free books, materials, and a travel allowance for those living a distance from the school. There is no payback in the event that the student does not finish the program. Often their academic skills need further development or reinforcement because they may be unpractised. Average grades tend to be well above average for other students. This article cites research into the questions of the effectiveness of such programs as TAA, how the colleges know what to train workers in, and the relationship between college education for the older displaced worker and the replacement of lost earnings.