RETIREES RETURN TO COLLEGE: AN EVALUATIVE STUDY AT ONE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Abstract

There has been a pronounced increase in the number of older Americans attending colleges and universities under tuition waiver programs, but there have been few reported studies of their educational experiences. The present research evaluated the tuition waiver program for retirees enrolled at the University of Maryland College Park. Completed questionnaires were received from 160 of 340 retirees who had been admitted to the university under this tuition waiver program. Additional data in structured follow‐up interviews were obtained for 139 of the 160 persons who returned questionnaires. Students attending the university under this program were an active, healthy, mobile, geographically stable, well‐educated group of men and women in their early years of retirement. Their academic interests centered in the arts and humanities, especially art, music, and foreign languages. Older students in this study reported that younger students and instructors were friendly, accepting, and did not treat them as different or older. Difficulties cited by older students attending the university were parking, registration, and the academic demands of keeping up with the class and meeting course requirements. The findings of this study suggest that a tuition waiver program well serves the needs of retirees to remain intellectually active, to explore academic areas long‐postponed during their working years, and to develop new or improve existing skills and interests.