Education Information for Seniors

Many older boomers and seniors are looking forward towards retiring and going back to school. Some wish to get the degree they never had an opportunity to earn when they were younger, but most just want to stimulate their minds and learn about those areas that have always been interesting to them.

Auditing Classes

A number of colleges and universities allow seniors to audit classes at a nominal charge or at no cost at all. More and more retirees are taking advantage of these programs. Some universities have had to cap the number of auditing students to keep from flooding popular classes. A growing number of retirement communities have negotiated arrangements with nearby campuses as one of the benefits of living there.

Some of the larger programs include Boston University, where more than one thousand seniors a year audit classes through their Evergreen program. Seniors pay $50 a course. Colleges like Pomona and Penn State offer seniors the opportunity to audit classes free, while the University of Washington charges $5 per course. Some states like Minnesota and Virginia require in-state universities to allow seniors to audit classes.

Allowing seniors to audit classes is a win/win for both parties. Many seniors make financial gifts and some include the college in their wills. It is also excellent PR and helps to better integrate the college into the surrounding community in addition to providing an excellent marketing tool.

Take a class at the local community college or take a free course online -- universities that offer online courses at no charge include Berkeley University of California (http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php)... Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.cmu.edu/oli/)... Massachusetts Institute of Technology (http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm)... and Tufts University (http://ocw.tufts.edu/).

For a partial list of colleges and universities that allow auditing of classes go to http://www.google.com and enter “audit classes” in the advanced search box.

In addition to being able to audit classes where no college credit is given, many seniors are continuing their education at on-line schools. Below is a list of the top 10 by size:

University of Phoenix, AIU Online, Kaplan College Online, Devry, Ellis MBA, Keiser College, Keller. Capella University, University of Cincinnati Online, Strayer University.

You can reach these schools directly or go to http://www.retiredbrains.com/Education/Index/ and search by, industry, program or state for the schools the best match your area of interest. This site also gives a brief description of the schools as well as a complete alphabetized listing of schools and the degrees they offer (Associates, Bachelors, Masters, Diploma, Certificate) with links to each.

Below is a list of some of the programs offered:

Accounting

Administrative Assistant

Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Heating

Architecture and Drafting

Business Administration

Business Applications

Cisco Certification

Information Technology Certification

Information Technology Management

Law Enforcement, Security and Criminal Justice

Legal Services

Maintenance and Repair

Management

Marketing and Advertising

Medical Billing and Coding

Medical Technologist

Microsoft Certification

Network Administration

Network Security

Network Technology

Nursing

Oracle

Personal Care Services

Trades

Transportation and Heavy Equipment Training

Travel and Tourism

Web Design

A number of colleges and universities allow seniors to audit classes at a nominal charge or at no cost at all. More and more retirees are taking advantage of these programs. Some universities have had to cap the number of retirees from flooding popular classes. A growing number of retirement communities have negotiated arrangements with nearby campuses as one of the benefits of living there.

Some of the larger programs include Boston University where more than 1000 seniors a year audit classes through their Evergreen program. Seniors pay $50 a course. Colleges like Pomona and Penn State offer seniors the opportunity to audit classes free while the University of Washington charges $5 per course. Some states like Minnesota and Virginia are legally required to allow seniors to audit classes.

Allowing seniors to audit classes is a win win for both parties. As a result many seniors make financial gifts and some include colleges in their wills. It is also excellent PR and helps to better integrate the college into the surrounding community in addition to providing an excellent marketing tool.

For a partial list of colleges and universities that allow auditing of classes go to http://www.google.com and enter "audit classes" in the advanced search box

Learn on-line

Following the lead of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other highly competitive schools, more institutions are posting online everything from lecture notes to sample tests, and even making audio and video files of actual lectures publicly available. The sites attract anywhere from thousands to more than one million unique visitors each month.

The moves -- which differ from the "distance learning" courses that many schools offer for credit and charge for -- come as colleges and universities say they want to democratize education, making the best resources available to more people. But they also hope that it leads to more interest from potential applicants and inspires alumni in far-flung locales to make a donation.

MIT's pioneering "OpenCourseWare" program, which was launched in 2003, posts the syllabus and class notes for more than 1,500 courses online for anyone who wants them. Later it aims to publish materials from virtually all 1,800 of its courses across all its schools.

The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., offers eight courses, from Introduction to Philosophy to African American History, and including everything from class plans, links to required readings, lecture notes and homework assignments. The school aims to increase the number of classes offered online to 30 courses over the next two years.

YaleUniversity, meanwhile, has announced it will produce digital videos of undergraduate lecture classes and make them available free to the public. This academic year, it is taping seven classes -- from Introduction to the Old Testament to Fundamentals of Physics –

Some smaller liberal-arts schools are following suit. Bryn Mawr College, a women's school in Pennsylvania, is in the process of selecting course materials to post online, free to the public, beginning this summer. It plans to include classes ranging from psychology and physics to one on the history of Philadelphia.

Some schools that follow the MIT model are focused on making available as many course materials as possible -- including class plans, lecture notes, lists of reading materials and even homework. Other schools, including University of California, Berkeley, are simply making lectures available through audio and video files. In MIT's Introduction to Modeling and Simulation, a science and engineering class, Web surfers can browse through assignments and sample quizzes, as well as suggested project ideas. As with other MIT courses, the syllabus is posted -- so you can see the structure of the course and what text and other reading materials are used -- but only some lecture notes are available.

Universities say they don't worry about losing applicants by giving away materials online. "From Yale's point of view, there still is nothing more important than direct interaction between students and teachers," says Diana E.E. Kleiner, an art-history professor and director of the Yale project. "Putting a selection of our courses online doesn't change that."

Brain Fitness: Don’t limit your workouts to the gym!

If you're over 50, you need exercise to stay fit--no disputing that. But what are you doing to keep your brain lean and mean?

The concept of brain fitness has caught fire lately, with much of the attention focused on a new breed of software programs and games that claim to help older people maintain mental acuity and blunt the cognitive decline associated with aging.

Nancy Merz Nordstrom is a bit of a skeptic. An expert on lifelong learning, she agrees that a challenged, stimulated brain is key to vibrancy in later life. She just prefers a real-world approach to the virtual.

"You can use mind software on your own--I don't have any problem with it," Merz Nordstrom says. "It's just that you also need to get out of the house and stay active."

Merz Nordstrom would be the first to admit that she's biased on this topic; she's the director of the Elderhostel Institute Network, an association whose members include many of the Lifelong Learning Institutes around the country that run adult education programs.

She's also the author of a well-regarded book on the benefits of adult learning, Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years. The book is a great resource guide to the range of adult learning options and a catalyst for getting started.

"It's as simple as 'use it or lose it,'" Nordstrom says. "If we want to do everything possible to keep our whole being alert, vibrant and connected as we age, we have to continue to challenge ourselves."

A growing body of brain research backs her up on this point. Some of the findings--detailed in Merz Nordstrom's book--suggest that the brain's physical anatomy responds to learning by regenerating brain cells. The benefits include enhanced mental alertness, thought processes, response times and reflexes.

“When you look at the benefits gained from keeping your mind sharp, it's incredible," Merz Nordstrom says. "Lifelong learning is like a health club for your brain."

Americans appear to be getting the message. An AARP study forecast that more than 95 percent of Americans over age 50 will participate in learning activities of one type or another during their lifetimes. And another report, by a research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, showed that the number of older adults returning to the classroom more than doubled during the 1990s.

What are all those people studying?

Some are pursuing degrees or doing work-related study. But Merz Nordstrom focuses on the large numbers that are there for personal enrichment--the sheer joy of learning.

"What we find is that people want to study the things they never had time for before," Merz Nordstrom says. "If their college years were focused on a career, now they want to study liberal arts, or an artistic endeavor. The humanities are very big, especially history."

And not all that learning is going on in classrooms. Merz Nordstrom devotes substantial sections of her book to educational travel (after all, she works for Elderhostel) and learning-oriented community service opportunities.

"For most people, it will just be a question of how involved, how focused?" she says. "How big a part of your life do you want to make this?"

If you'd like to learn more, check out a local Lifelong Learning Institute Most--but not all--are run under the auspices of a college or university. Merz-Nordstrom recommends calling your local college or university to see if continuing education programs are offered for older adults.

Other good places to start:

--The http://www.elderhostel.org/EIN/intro.asp web site offers database that can be searched by zip code.

--Institutes for Learning in Retirement. These programs are usually are run by participants, who develop the curriculum, and teach the classes. More information is available at the Elderhostel site.

--Your public library. Many have established resource centers for researching learning opportunities of all types.

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