The Hot New Retirement Destination? The Classroom

Retired? Don't go to work...go to learn!

Here's one to add to your retirement vitality index for your community. Don't have one? Think about creating one to track what your area has to offer retirees and near-retirees. Education is more important to retirees. People want to tap the unknown sides of themselbves. Help them do it.

Just as we're rewriting the rules on retirement, we're helping to transform the face of education, driving a surge in adult learning programs. In response to tens of millions of men and women looking for new learning experiences, we're witnessing an explosion of online courses, adult education classes, university extension courses, seminars, international programs, museum lecture series, dance classes, and for some, more degrees and work-based career reinvention.

Some universities are even beginning to award credit for life experience. The American College Testing Association recently developed a formal life-experience evaluation that schools are using to award college credits. In lieu of SAT scores and high school transcripts, returning students are asked to provide their personal portfolio, including a presentation of work-related experiences and skills.

Universities and developers, realizing the perpetual appeal of a college campus (and the terrific resources it can offer older adults) are building retirement communities on or near the school's grounds. One example: The Kendal at Oberlin (in Oberlin, Ohio), offers access to the campus and courses at Oberlin College, continuing care programs, and a lively community.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., the Academy of Senior Professionals at Eckerd College (ASPEC) has 350 accomplished members from a wide range of professions and walks of life. These are people who excelled at their careers before retiring and want "to keep creating, keep producing," says Merle Allshouse, former ASPEC director.

Members attend lectures and panel discussions on topics from boat building to opera and discussion groups on topics from sci¬ence and society to poetry and investing. "The intellectual aspect of the organization was the thing that really got me," says Bob Siver, a former company president. "We study right along with the young students."

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