Please check out OUSSA—Oxford University Summer School for Adults.
Each summer the oldest university in the Western Hemisphere offers a 4-5 week program for adults. Each week offers some dozen choices of immersion classes: literature, mathematics, science, ecology, politics, history, writing, etc etc. Choose your passion. Once in Oxford, you attend class every morning, with tea break because it is after all, England. Afternoons and evenings are free—to enjoy theater, concerts, pubs, museums, etc etc. Room and board is included (the food is excellent, the rooms spacious and comfortable). It’s the best thing I do all year!
When I worked in student affairs at Macalester (1977-91) we had a program for older students, taking 1 or 2 courses a term, instead of the standard 4. Significantly reduced tuition with regular class attendance with everyone else.
Maybe 20 people at a time - most just taking courses, but a few, over time, graduated. One I especially remember was a Metro transit driver who adjusted her driving schedule to her class schedule.
I enrolled and auditioned to study classical guitar at Towson U here in Baltimore. It was a great year. I found the students quite age blind to my 72 year old self at the time. Might do it again. There was no tuition, did pay a "lab fee" to cover the private instruction times.
In my twenties, I was teaching people in their 70s (and older!) via the San Diego State U Educational Growth Opportunities (EGO) program. Don't know if it still exists, but there are others like it, and they're great for people who need more flexibility than a college schedule offers. Many colleges have also offered free auditing for seniors for decades: No grades, just lecture attendance. And, wait for it, I also have taught many seniors in regular college classes, even on Study Abroad. I quit my academic job in 2008, and. my oldest former student is in her 80s. Faculty love senior students because they do the reading and participate. The only problem they really face is the initial lack of self-confidence that stops them from enrolling!
Good observation, Annette. Now that I think about it, there was one older woman in my sophomore French class during my undergraduate days. Turns out, she's my mother-in-law.
Oh, that's brilliant, Don! 😂 Btw, I'm thinking that college administrators trumpeting " This is something that we do well, and it's new!" are engaging in marketing more than anything. There's always been institutional support for senior/non-traditional students at every institution I've been associated with!
Please check out OUSSA—Oxford University Summer School for Adults.
Each summer the oldest university in the Western Hemisphere offers a 4-5 week program for adults. Each week offers some dozen choices of immersion classes: literature, mathematics, science, ecology, politics, history, writing, etc etc. Choose your passion. Once in Oxford, you attend class every morning, with tea break because it is after all, England. Afternoons and evenings are free—to enjoy theater, concerts, pubs, museums, etc etc. Room and board is included (the food is excellent, the rooms spacious and comfortable). It’s the best thing I do all year!
Oh my! That sounds fantastic! Thanks for the tip.
What an idea!
When I worked in student affairs at Macalester (1977-91) we had a program for older students, taking 1 or 2 courses a term, instead of the standard 4. Significantly reduced tuition with regular class attendance with everyone else.
Maybe 20 people at a time - most just taking courses, but a few, over time, graduated. One I especially remember was a Metro transit driver who adjusted her driving schedule to her class schedule.
Thanks, Tom. Good perspective.
I enrolled and auditioned to study classical guitar at Towson U here in Baltimore. It was a great year. I found the students quite age blind to my 72 year old self at the time. Might do it again. There was no tuition, did pay a "lab fee" to cover the private instruction times.
That's encouraging that students were age-blind.
A few older students would probably pull up the class grade point average too.
More than likely.
Important topic well covered . . . .
In my twenties, I was teaching people in their 70s (and older!) via the San Diego State U Educational Growth Opportunities (EGO) program. Don't know if it still exists, but there are others like it, and they're great for people who need more flexibility than a college schedule offers. Many colleges have also offered free auditing for seniors for decades: No grades, just lecture attendance. And, wait for it, I also have taught many seniors in regular college classes, even on Study Abroad. I quit my academic job in 2008, and. my oldest former student is in her 80s. Faculty love senior students because they do the reading and participate. The only problem they really face is the initial lack of self-confidence that stops them from enrolling!
Good observation, Annette. Now that I think about it, there was one older woman in my sophomore French class during my undergraduate days. Turns out, she's my mother-in-law.
Oh, that's brilliant, Don! 😂 Btw, I'm thinking that college administrators trumpeting " This is something that we do well, and it's new!" are engaging in marketing more than anything. There's always been institutional support for senior/non-traditional students at every institution I've been associated with!