PROVIDING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR OLDER AMERICANS

With the advent of an aging society, the traditional patterns of higher education have begun to change. Older adults are entering colleges and universities in increasing numbers, offering a growing supply of students for institutions which recognize and respond to their needs. Either because of economic needs from downsizing or devaluation of pensions, or because even a financially secure retirement may lack in social and mental stimulation, the older students are seeking new or supplemental degrees. Stereotypes of the elderly as mentally slower, inflexible, and sensory impaired are giving way to recognition of their potential intellectual, experiential, as well as financial, contributions. Many colleges and universities have begun to take steps toward opening their doors to older learners by expanding their educational delivery to evening hours and to off-campus sites and offering non-degree courses tailored to their interests. Further, many states waive tuition fees or allow a reduction to entice the older student back into the classroom.

America is experiencing a major demographic revolution. Due to increases in life expectancy and the progression of the baby boomers through middle age, America is emerging as an "aging society." The over-50 age group is the fastest growing segment of the population, currently representing 26.1% of the population; those over 65 compose 12.8% of Americans . This number is expected to rise as much as 106% in the next thirty years (Seigel, 1996). Such significant population changes have profound implications for the role of education across the lifespan.

Historically, Americans adhered to traditional life cycle patterns by pursuing education during youth, employment during adulthood, and retirement/leisure during old age. With the advent of an aging society however, such traditional patterns have begun to change. The increase in life expectancy is a result of medical advances which delay or prevent acute and chronic diseases in later life; therefore, the population is not only older, it is healthier in its old age. The quality of life has also been improved with the advent of Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, the Older Americans Act and anti-discrimination legislation. The poverty rate has been reduced by 600% for the elderly, (Jackson, et al., 1996) offering an improved economic, social and psychological status.

Focusing college and university education on the late teens and early twenties was appropriate when the baby-boom generation was at that stage. Today, the applicant pool of those 18 to 22 is declining while the older population grows. Further, the older adult has more financial resources for tuition, life experiences to develop self-discipline and, often, the time for academics. Older adults enter colleges and universities for two main reasons: They are seeking skills for a changing job market or they are interested in personal development.

The shift of the economy from manufacturing to service-based has necessitated a change in the required knowledge for employment. Corporations undergoing downsizing no longer retain long-term employees as a matter of policy. For the older adult, who has been in the workforce for decades, a change in or loss of, work is a major life event, especially for people whose identities are tied to their life's work. This has been particularly true for men in the past whose lives have been mostly identified by the jobs they held, the professions they have had, or the work they did. Increasingly, this type of personal job identity will be true for women as more and more enter the paid labor force for longer periods of their lives. Additionally, more older people will seek to extend their work lives because of anticipated deterioration of private income, the uncertainty of Social Security and pensions, and fear of high end-of-life health care costs. Public policy changes designed to encourage a longer work-life have included the elimination of mandatory retirement, an increase in the Social Security retirement age, and an increase in the amount one can earn before Social Security benefits are reduced. Despite these efforts, many corporations have structured their pension programs to penalize workers for remaining additional years or are offering incentives for early retirement (Quinn and Kozy, 1996). Older workers may then seek employment from another company or through self-employment.

For those close to retirement age, adaptation may mean learning a totally different occupation or method of practice. This is particularly true for those with limited marketable skills for today's world of work, those who have been out of the workplace for an extended period of time or who have interrupted work histories. Unfortunately, the desire on the part of many older persons to continue to work or return to work is sometimes dampened by major obstacles which appear to slow or block a fuller utilization of older persons in the American work force. These include the lingering question about the ability of workers age 50 and older to adapt to new technology and the rising cost of healthcare coverage.

The portion of older adults seeking a new career is likely to grow with the aging of the baby-boomers. In addition to age discrimination and an increased need for savings for retirement income, many may enter retirement age still caring for elderly parents, economically as well as personally (Cornman and Kingson, 1996)

Obtaining or completing a college degree in later life is more than a financial consideration. Some experts think that the hardest adjustment to retirement may be psychological (Riekse and Holstege, 1996). In a society in which one of the first questions asked after an introduction is, "What do you do?", identity is tied to the activities which occupy our time. Although many people enjoy getting away from the demands of a job and a 40-hour work week, complete leisure can be too much of a good thing. Retirees who appear to be the happiest are those who spend two or three days a week learning something new, working part-time, or helping others.

A popular theory suggests that retirees travel through several stages after their retirement. The first is the honeymoon stage, in which the retiree does the things that had been difficult during full-time employment such as extensive travel, frequent sporting or recreational activities, or spending time with family members. This stage may then be followed by one of disenchantment, in which the retiree must adjust to the realities of retirement, such as reduced income, that may restrict many of the activities which had been planned. During this stage the retiree either discovers appropriate new activities or lapses into inertia, perhaps depression. If successfully completed, the retiree then enters the final, and satisfactory, reorientation stage, in which he or she accepts the limitations incumbent with aging and settles into a retirement routine (Kausler and Kausler, 1996).

Perhaps the first reaction to an elderly person entering a college classroom is doubt as to his or her ability to perform at the level of the younger student. Stereotyping the elderly as mentally slower, inflexible, and sensory impaired has created the impression that they cannot compete, much less excel in a intellectual environment. These perceptions will be addressed individually.

Intelligence. A study of aging and cognitive abilities concluded that decreases in intelligence are modest until persons reach their eighties, and even at the age of 80, fewer than one half of the individuals showed measurable decreases. As compared with age 25, at age 88, there is virtually no decline in verbal ability; however, inductive reasoning and verbal memory do decline, as do spatial orientation and numeric ability. While this decline can be attributed to the slowing of processing ability and response speed, it was argued that key variables increase the likelihood that mental abilities will be maintained in old age. They are:

• absence of chronic debilitating diseases, such as cardiovascular disease;
• higher socioeconomic status;
• higher than average educational background;
• occupational status that requires high complexity in employment;
• above-average income;
• being married to a spouse with high cognitive competencies;
• a flexible personality at mid-life; and
• substantial involvement in activities typically available in complex and stimulating environments, such as extensive reading habits, continuing education, participation in professional associations (Riekse and Holstege, 1996, p. 93).

Therefore, it can be argued that use of intelligence in an academic setting perpetuates its own existence.

In addition to education sustaining intelligence, it is also argued that intellectual decline can be reversed by educational exercises and programs. Perhaps the result of limited mental stimulation in their everyday lives, lower cognitive performance of older adults, even into their late seventies, can be reversed by remedial educational programs. Such gains may be lost, however, if the individuals return to non-stimulating environments.

Studies of older adults in problem solving have shown that the subject matter is crucial to performance, reflecting that skills used on a daily basis such as home management and interpersonal conflict are better utilized by the old than the young. Further, problems which required objective examination were also dealt with more successfully than by younger participants who experienced difficulty in separating emotions from facts. It has been argued that greater life experience improves an older individual's ability to evaluate emotionally salient situations (Whitborne, 1996)

Creativity. Another area of contention is the belief that the elderly are "set in their ways," they are not open to change or capable of creativity. Research has refuted such claims, attributing creativity to personality traits existent throughout the lifespan and not dependent on age. It may be theorized that a reduction in creative activity may be explained by the lack of stimulating opportunities for the elderly or by a mental vacation at retirement. This is supported by studies which show creative productivity can undergo a substantial renaissance in the later years of life; some time after the late sixties, there is often a resurgence in output.

Sensory Impairments. Classifying all persons over the age of 60 as similar in physical impairments is generalizing over a 40+ year span; obviously such stereotyping is ridiculous. Studies have shown wide variation in functional status, emotional well-being, health perceptions and satisfaction within the elderly population (McHorney, 1996). Disabilities occur at all ages, even those of the traditional college age, and, particularly since the passage of the Americans Disability Act, students and institutions have made accommodations to ensure equal access. Therefore, the senior student should experience no more obstacles to learning than the junior student.

Older adults attending classes in a university setting do so under two systems: those who attend courses in pursuit of a degree along with the traditionally younger students and those who participate in non-credit classes specifically designed for them. There is discussion in the literature on whether age segregation contributes to or detracts from the quality of education for the older learner. Those who support the age-segregated model suggest that older learners are more relaxed among their peers. However, the elderly themselves indicate a preference intergenerational classes over age-segregated classes because of the exchange which occurs between older and younger learners (Covey, 1982).

Many colleges and universities have begun to take steps toward opening their doors to older learners by expanding their educational delivery to evening hours and to off-campus sites. Table 1 reflects the enrollment in 1995.

Table 1. Enrollment in University and College Programs, 1995:

Selected Age Groups

Source: U.S. Department of Education 1997

These numbers show the tendency for older students to enroll in graduate programs and to attend classes on a part-time basis. Even if the distribution remains constant, an increase of 106% in this population by 2025 means that the elderly will occupy over 900,000 classroom seats. By facilitating enrollment in part-time programs and graduate studies, universities easily surpass this estimate.

One method of attracting the older student is to adjust the cost of tuition. Retirees on fixed incomes and facing possible health care expenses may have reservations about high tuition costs which, unlike the younger student, are not likely to be recouped in the job market. States have begun offering tuition waivers or tuition reductions to seniors (some by state statute, some by institutional discretion, some by both). Table 2 reflects those state programs in 1996. (See next page for Table 2.)

Another need which should be addressed is the reintegration of the elderly in an academic environment after a long absence. It is suggested that remedial courses in study skills, speedreading classes, peer counseling, assistance in registration, lounges for older students, and orienting faculty to accept and work with older students are features which would attract and retain the elderly in the university environment (Galerstein, 1980).

Table 2. State Tuition Programs for the Elderly

Source: Smith, 1995.

In addition to courses pursuant to a degree, some colleges provide age-segregated programs which offer older learners a stimulating college atmosphere without the usual pressures of tests and grades. Featuring shorter duration of classes, selection of course topics by the participants, accessible classrooms, these classes combine a relaxing atmosphere, intellectual stimulation and socialization. Two hundred and fifty colleges sponsor Learning in Retirement programs, a national network of programs begun in 1988 (University of Georgia, 1997). Sometimes called Elderhostel, courses can be held in a traditional lecture format, involve field trips or creative projects.

Cornman, John M. and Kingson, Eric R, (1996). Trends, Issues, Perspectives and Values for the Aging of the Baby Boom Cohorts. The Gerontologist, 36,1, 15-26.

Covey, H. C. (1982). Preliminary findings on designing higher education programs for older people. Educational Gerontology, 8, 463-471.

Galerstein, Carolyn (1980). The Graying of the Campus. Journal of Higher Education. 51, 4, 470-471.

Jackson, James S., Lockery, Shirley and Juster, F. Thomas. (1996). Health and Retirement Among Ethnic and Racial Minority Groups. The Gerontologist, 36, 3, 282-284.

Kausler, Donald H. and Kausler, Barry C. (1996). The Graying of America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

McHorney, Colleen A. (1996) Measuring and Monitoring General Health Status in Elderly Persons: Practical and Methodological Issues in Using the SF-36 Health Survey. The Gerontologist, 36, 5, 571-583.

Quinn, Joseph F. and Kozy, Michael. (1996). The Role of Bridge Jobs in the Retirement Transition: Gender, Race and Ethnicity. The Gerontologist, 36, 3, 363-372.

University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education (1997) Learning in Retirement. http://www.gactr.uga.edu/GCQ/gcqsum97/lir.htm.

Riekse, Robert J. and Holstege, Henry (1996). Growing Older in America. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Seigel, Jacob. (1996) Aging into the 21^st Century. Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS-100-95-0017.

Whitbourne, Susan K. (1996). The Aging Individual: Physical and Psychological Perspectives. New York: Springer Publishing Company.