>However, I've talked to other older students who have different experiences, such as difficulty integrating into student culture or getting help from professors/advisors.

I used to teach at a university and I'll tell you a personality trait that older folks had that either a) made them really valuable in class or b) made everybody dislike them. That trait was a willingness to talk and participate in the class.

Some were able to take their life/work experience and really help the other people in the class see how the theory learned in class could be used in a real job. Their class participation was useful and certainly other students wanted to talk with them and the professor would engage with them.

Other people used their "life experience" to talk about themselves, their dog, the kids, some tangentially related aspect of their job, etc. They perceived themselves as contributing, but really they were just talking for the sake of talking. Nobody wanted to engage with them. Certainly younger students don't care about any of those things, just like older students don't care about where the younger students hung out over the weekend. And as a professor maybe one of those older students could become a friend, but mostly they're just that extra-irritating person who takes up valuable time (both inside and outside class) and seems to have no reservations about doing do.