The Class Goes Gray
Retirees head back to college, and what's not to like? They often don't need to study for exams-or even pay tuition
But with learning from one another's experiences also comes a propensity for retirees to share a little too much. Jost Lottes, director of the Senior Adult Learning Center at Portland State University, where any Oregon resident over age 65 can take classes free, says the school is careful not to enroll too many retirees in undergraduate classes. While about 500 senior citizens take classes each semester at Portland State, no more than five attend any one class. "We tell our seniors not to try to dominate the class and not to try to talk all the time," Lottes says.
Princeton University caps enrollment in its community auditor program at 10 percent of the total number of students in each class. "We have to make sure community auditors do not ask questions or seek to engage the professor during class," says Princeton spokesperson Cass Cliatt. Friedsam came right out and asked his professors at Georgetown if it was all right for him to continue to ask a lot of questions. He got the official OK. At Penn State, Green prefers to play it safe. "If I don't have something to say I think they're going to benefit by," he says, "I keep my mouth shut."
Other colleges seek to avoid the issue entirely by simply not allowing retirees to audit undergraduate classes. The University of Notre Dame in Indiana does not allow residents of the nearby Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame to audit courses (although another college does). "Residents may be involved in a variety of activities at Notre Dame and get a library card, but auditing courses is not one of the options, at least at this point," says Dennis Brown, the university's assistant vice president of news and information. Harvard University generally does not let anyone audit undergraduate classes, either.
Free tuition. Part of the generational conflict stems from the pocketbook. Older students can often audit classes free or for a small fee, while the younger student next to them is paying upwards of $20,000 for tuition at private schools to receive credit for the same class. A number of states, including Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Virginia, have adopted statewide tuition waivers for senior citizens who wish to take classes at public institutions, although sometimes a fee is required.
Other colleges offer classes exclusively for people age 50 and older. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a collection of programs at 93 colleges across the country that offer senior citizens non-credit classes that usually last from four to eight weeks. The courses have no papers or exams and usually cost between $25 and $450, although the rules and fees for every program are different. A quick call to your local college should be able to tell you if there is any type of senior citizen audit program.
Marina Stites, who has been taking classes at Portland State University for eight years since retiring from the office of her husband, a chiropractor, says, "I was really amazed that the kids accepted me so beautifully." In fact, the only time that Stites, 75, ever found taking classes with younger students to be slightly uncomfortable was when she took a dance class. "You had to change partners," Stites says. "And when some of the guys got me they went, 'Oh, my God!'"
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