As a child, I pictured college as something that came right after high school, lasted about four years and then ended. I never imagined older students attending college, so I was surprised to encounter a middle-aged student in one of my classes freshman year. With each passing semester, I met greater numbers of older students, and when I worked in the writing center on campus, I quickly realized that I could be tutoring an 18-year-old student at one moment and a 70-year-old student at another. Eventually, I came to accept and expect this wide range of ages at my university, but many schools are not as clearly age-friendly for students who want an authentic college experience.
Colleges and universities are based on educational systems where most education ends when students are in their 20s, but there are increasingly more instances of people attending college later in life. Some of these students are early retirees who want a fresh start in a new career, and others are extending their education or getting one for the first time.
Not all of these students want to earn degrees; some just want to learn new skills or earn a certification. Others want to improve their chances of advancing in their careers. Whatever their reasons for getting an education later in life, many of these older students want to attend classes on campus rather than online. Because so many of them are already deeply ensconced in their lives, their options are limited by a lack of time or money to put toward a degree.
Encore.org’s EncoreU, an organization focused on “the talents of students in midlife and beyond,” recently took strides to address these limited options. The organization held a Higher Education Summit in New York that included representatives from 22 colleges and universities. A main topic of conversation at the summit was finding a way to improve the college experience and education for older students.
The US Census Bureau reported 298 students over the age of 55 enrolled in college in 2014, and US Department of Education projects an increase in enrollment of similarly aged students for years to come. By offering older students incentives, such as counting life and work experience as credits toward a degree and making colleges more accessible to students of all ages, colleges can secure a new, more diverse student body.
Did You Know?
Lifelong learning is a term often used to refer to the act of keeping your mind sharp by constantly challenging your brain. Doing so can improve brain function, and studies show that keeping your brain active can even reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s by lowering your levels of beta-amyloid, a protein linked to the disease.
