Want To Go Back To School? Fifteen Resources.

By Karen and Erica

We Lustre Ladies get to go back to school now! We are excited. We want to study Caspar David Friedrich, to read the ancient Greeks, to discover where AI came from and where it is going. For fun. And to keep connected with the thinking world. Luckily for us, the options are abundant. 

Colleges

Many colleges allow non-matriculating students to attend courses for free, or for a small sum. If you do want a degree, many offer tuition assistance. Here are two lists, one of twenty-five such institutions around the country, and another of fifty. Look to see what might be available near you, or in a location you might like to visit for a while.

And here is a list, also of fifty, from Kiplinger. Kiplinger notes that in some cases you may have to go through the normal admissions process, or you may have to wait until paying students choose their courses. Check how it works for colleges in your area. Just as an example, here’s how the University of Washington’s ACCESS Program works: 

The ACCESS Program at the University of Washington allows Washington state residents aged 60+ to audit one or two university courses per quarter on a space-available basis. As an ACCESS student, you pay a $5 service fee along with a quarterly technology fee of approximately $4 per credit. For instance, an ACCESS student auditing a 5-credit course would pay approximately $25.

ACCESS students are non-matriculated students and, as such, do not receive credit, attend discussion sections, take tests, submit papers, or any other coursework.

ACCESS students are welcome in our undergraduate courses but do not attend any graduate-level courses (500 level and above). We publish a quarterly course list of history courses available to Access students. We send out the list to our ACCESS student mailing list. 

Some institutions offer learning in specific subjects, often relating to their strengths.

• The University of Chicago is setting up a program in astronomy and astrophysics (and if you are an expert, you can teach it!)

Lifelong Learning (L3) is a program for older adults to provide intellectual and social stimulation through a series of interactive lectures at venues around the city. L3 reaches its target audiences through partnerships with the Chicago Public Libraries, senior centers, and local retirement communities to connect adults over age 55, an often-underserved population. 

L3 is seeking students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty members in Astronomy and Astrophysics and KICP who would like to volunteer as speakers in the program. If you would like to host talks from the L3 program in your community, please contact us.. 

• Bowdoin, in Maine, right next to the Atlantic Ocean, offers oceanographic study.

This fall, earth and oceanographic science professor Phil Camill is teaching a six-session course, on alternating Monday evenings, about climate change and “weird weather.” The attendees are mostly retired people living in Brunswick and nearby who belong to the Association of Bowdoin Friends.

In his first 90-minute session, Camill began describing the modern climate system and talked about phenomena that affect weather patterns, such as solar radiation and the Coriolis effect. In later classes, he’ll cover historical climate changes, and both human and non-human drivers of climate change. After the course is done, students will have covered a billion years of Earth’s history.

“I love this opportunity to engage with the public,” Camill said as he introduced himself to his new students. He explained that he frames the “story of climate change” in a way to help people better understand it in the context of diverse media coverage, some of it quite politically charged, and the weather events they are witnessing. “Every citizen on the planet should know this stuff,” he added.

• A great resource is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes. In 2000, the Institute began to target programs for mature students, and it is now present on many college campuses. 

At present, the Foundation supports 125 lifelong learning programs on university and college campuses across the country, with at least one grantee in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Foundation also supports a National Resource Center for Osher Institutes which is located at Northwestern University.

The Osher Foundation has not been highly prescriptive in the type of lifelong learning program it has chosen to support. While one finds considerable variation among the Osher Institutes, funded programs share a common set of standards to encourage excellence and promote long-term sustainability and success:

* A diverse repertoire of intellectually stimulating, non-credit courses and educational activities, specifically designed for people who are 50 years of age or older;

* Participants are offered membership and significant opportunities for volunteer engagement and leadership[.]

As an example, here is Johns Hopkins’ Osher offering: Osher at Johns Hopkins: Hopkins has been offering classes to retirees since 1986 with the Evergreen Society, now known as Osher at JHU. Classes, taught by Hopkins graduates and other luminaries, are available both online and in person.

Libraries

Libraries are often a source of amazing classes.

• The New York Public Library has a variety of classes in many of its locations. Programs include studies about different aspects of tech, classes in creative writing, lectures on art journaling, and much much more. 
• In Georgia, there is Galileo, which offers many programs for lifelong learners.

Other Institutions

Both profit and non-profit institutions have educational arms.

• In NYC, the 92nd ST Y has a dazzling array of learned offerings by renowned scholars, on topics such as immigration and neurodiversity.
• In San Diego, there is Oasis, which has a long list of possibilities, including health, history, and theater. You must join Oasis, but there is no charge.
• Christie’s and Sotheby’s, two of the great auction houses, have robust offerings about art.
• Van Cleef and Arpels, through its Ecole, has amazing courses about jewelry—history, how high jewelry is made, relevance of art and archeology. Amazing locations, if you are in Paris.
• The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., with its many fantastic museums, has a wide-ranging array of programs for lifelong learners.

Travel

Travel is not free, but is always a learning experience.

• Many colleges, like UCLA, offer travel opportunities, usually for alumni, that are led by world-class professors.
• Road Scholar has a growing of educational travel experiences. Some involve sailing on the Queen Mary 2. A better place to learn is hard to picture!
• And Lindblad and National Geographic have teamed up for an immersive educational cruise to Alaska.

The possibilities are endless, wherever you are–especially since many are online. Obviously, we can’t possibly list them all, but we hope to whet your appetite. If learning new things stimulates you, get out there (on your computer) and see what you find. Tell this community about it, too.

We have finally arrived at an age where we can appreciate going back to school.