PSU Magazine Spring 1992

to Mex ico in 1989 and practicing Spanish on some of her ESL students. Goldman and Scherrer are part of a nationwide trend . An estimated 320,000 sen iors study each year for col– lege credit, according to the Census Bureau. Thousands more, like Goldman and Scherrer, audit classes at little or no cost. And the elder campus population is proj ec ted to grow steadi– ly: The first of the baby boomers will be wrapping up their careers near the turn of the century, and they' ll li ve longer than any genera tion before them. That means more time fo r travel, leisure– and stud y. The concept of lifelong learning got its first big push during the 1970 Wh ite House Conference on Aging, says A lice Scannell, director of the Senior Adult Learning Center (SALC ), a pro– gram of PSU' Institute on Aging in the Schoo l of Urban and Public Af– fa irs. The idea rece ived attention, but no federal funding. It was left up to the state to implement programs in higher education institutions where seniors could take classes at little or no cost, and O regon was one of the first states to do so. Now, each public O regon col– lege and uni versity must allow se niors to audit classes, free of charge except for special materials, on a space-avail– ab le basis. Several states have similar programs. Still others charge modest tuition or fees for returning, retired students. The commitment to life long learn– ing may prove to be financially sound for colleges and universities. At a time when higher education is mov ing out of the reach of many younger students, senior citizens present a new, potential– ly lucrative market. They have money to spend on books, class materials and , when required, tuition and fees. They may even be more inclined to re pond to deve lopment campaigns, as some schools have fo und . About one- third of the SALC budget at Portland State is now funded by participant donations. Sensing an opportunity to both give and rece ive, big-name and less well – known schools alike are getting on the older-student bandwagon. Yale, Boston University, O berlin , Stanford and others all have programs designed to bring seniors back on campus. Some '' I've gotten to know these kids. I'm impressed with their people quality ... it makes me feel good and feel young again to be around them. - Archie Goldman '' schools, such as Iowa State and the University of Virgini a, have retirement communities built on or near campus. At many campuses, PSU included, go ing back to school ca rri e benefits other than learning. Senior students often have access to the li brary, student bookstore discounts, and phys ical education fac ilities. One fas t-growing segment of senior education is ca lled "Lea rning in Retire– ment" (UR) . It was pi oneered in 1962 by the New Schoo l fo r Social Research in New York C ity. U R members design their own courses, hire instructors (often non-academics) from within their membership and support their chapters with annual fees. There are now more th an 150 UR programs in the U.S. One of the largest, at the University of Delaware, boasts nearly 1,500 students in 100 courses. PSU does not have such a peer– taught UR program, rather, senior stu– dents audit scheduled classes taught by regular fac ulty. About 200 seniors enroll each term through the Senior Adult Learning Center. The SALC is unique in O regon. At both O regon State University and the University of O regon, seniors fil e forms with the registrar's office to have tuition and fees waived. No formal pro– gram ex ists to help them pick courses, contact instructors or get acquainted with campus. PSU senior students count on the SALC for help in all of those areas. Seniors who benefi t from the SALC differ widely in goals and expectations. Some , like Goldman, want to fill in the gaps left by earlier education. O thers, Scherrer included, need the education in order to go on to something else. Still others are planning overseas vaca– tions and want to know more about the areas they' ll visit. For instance, those bound fo r Eu rope may take an art his– tory course and use their class notes instead of buying a travel guide for the different towns, says Scannell. Both Scannell and Thomas Poulsen, chair of the Geography Department, fee l that older students who study simp– ly for the joy of learning are often as dedicated as those with a spec ific goa l in mind. "There's a hard-core group of about 60 seniors who are in class nearly every term ," she says. "They fee l it's im– portant to live in the present and make dec isions based on what's happening in the present. No one ever comes in here and says, 'I want to be an info rmed citizen ,' but that's how it works out. They're very interested in hot politica l top ics such as the Gulf, Russ ia, Easte rn Eu rope and other contemporary po lit i– cal issues." Spanish studies at PSU will help Ann Scherrer during her two-year, Costa Rica Peace Corps assignment. PSU 7