Rodney L. Parks, Ph.D., Associate
Registrar
Nikki Hon, Assistant Registrar
University of Georgia
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With a growing number of baby-boomers retiring
and going back to school, many institutions offer
free or reduced tuition to students aged 62 and over
The purpose of this study was to explore the unique
experiences of students from the Baby Boomer
cohort as they transition back to the classroom at a
large, traditional Southeastern university.
Challenges relating to culture, technology, and
logistics were explored.
This study followed the tenets of qualitative
phenomenology, aimed at understanding the
meaning of the experiences of seven students
participating in the 62 and older reduced tuition
program.
• Purposeful sampling of participants, two sets of
semi-structured interviews, transcriptions, and
member checking for credibility.
• Data analysis used open coding and rich-thick
descriptions to identify major themes of
participants’ experiences.
•
Pseudonym
Age
Degree Seeking?
Highest Level of
Education
David
72
No
Ph.D.
Jennifer
68
No
Bachelor’s
Brian
69
No
Master’s
Danielle
63
No
Ph.D.
Larry
64
Yes
Master’s
Peter
66
No
Master’s
Cameron
63
No
Bachelor’s
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Motivation:
 Lifelong Learning
 Enculturation
Interaction
 Student Interactions
 Isolation/Indifference
 Second Class Students
 Faculty Interactions
Challenges
 Policy: Admissions/Registration
 Physical: Parking/Transit
• Lifelong Learning
• “I’ve always tried to improve my mind and, kind
of humorously, I say I am here to avoid
Alzheimer’s.” (Peter.)
• “Retirement isn’t the end of something. To me, it
is a beginning where you get to explore things you
like. You want to keep challenging yourself and
keep involved. Keep the grey matter in the pink.”
(Brian.)
• Enculturation:
• “I enjoy the college town atmosphere. I’ve lived in
college towns most of my life. It’s just an
environment I like. You run into all sorts of people
from all walks of life. That’s something you don’t
see in smaller towns or non-university towns.”
(David.)
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Isolation/Indifference
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•
“Most of [the students] seem to be kind of mystified
by who I am and why I’m taking a class that they’re
taking. I don’t think they really know how to relate to
me. I’m like a giraffe in a party of mice.” (David.)
“Some students are indifferent to you. They think you
are a spy for their parents or something. I’m not sure.
You’re an anomaly and it’s probably difficult for them
to relate.” (Brian.)
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Second-Class Students:
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•
“I guess the feeling is that they’re more of a student than I
am.” (Larry.)
“I don’t, as a rule, take part in the [class] discussions. I
don’t know, maybe it’s almost a shyness, like I don’t want
to raise attention to myself. If I feel different, I feel like I’m
a minority or something like that. I don’t want people to
think ‘what is she doing here?’” (Danielle.)
• “[The faculty] are a little bit puzzled and then they
become very accepting and I think they are glad we’re
here. I’ve seen just about all of them will reach out in
some way or another to the geezer student, the gorilla
in the classroom.” (Brian.)
• “I kind of felt uneasy because [the professor] was
singling me out in there. I don’t know because he was
fascinated that I was in there. He was kind of singling
me out. I don’t want to call it ‘teasing,’ but joking
with me more than the other students.” (Cameron.)
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Admissions/Registration
• “Say you want to take a class for which there is a prerequisite. If all you’ve ever done is audit, the system
knows you’ve audited the pre-requisite, but you have
no credit for it. So it says you don’t have the prerequisite. So you have to call the department and get
an override.” (Jennifer.)
• “I feel like I’m explaining myself five or six different
times just to get into a class.” (Danielle.)
• “It’s the bureaucratic stuff more than anything.” “I
had to plan almost half a year in advance before I
could take classes.” “Transcripts on Microfilm!”
(Larry)
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Transit/Parking
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“If you’re a senior on a tight budget, you kind of get the
lowest priority parking because you’re pretty much not
going to be living on campus so you’ve got to commute to
campus and you’ve got to park somewhere probably far
away from whatever class you’re taking.” (Peter.)
All participants professed a commitment to the
value of lifelong learning. Participants also
expressed positive feelings towards the 62 and
older reduced tuition program and the college
town atmosphere.
• Although participants expressed a range of
positive and negative interactions with students
and faculty, most experienced isolation and
indifference. Participants regarded themselves
as “guests” in the classroom.
•
The cumbersome registration and enrollment
process was a significant burden. Respondents
expressed frustrations relating to their
classification status, pre-requisite requirements,
registration clearance, deadlines, and lack of
contact with advisors.
• Participants were in good physical health and
had little difficulty walking to classes. However,
many expressed confusion and frustration with
the parking and bus systems.
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Sampling Procedure
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Convenience
Student Variability
Generalizability
Economic Motivations
• Additional research is needed to explore the
goals, motivations, and challenges unique to
degree seeking students who are age 62 and
older.
 Technological Barriers
• All participants had a strong background in
technology. Potential 62 and older students
may be discouraged from returning to school
due to a perceived technology gap.
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Academic Workload
• Many participants expressed concern with
the difficulty of writing papers and studying
for courses after decades of absence from
school. Future research could explore the
possible deterrent effect academic rigor has
on potential 62 and older students.
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Integration into Campus Life
• Participants expressed a desire to reach out to
other students in the 62 and older program.
Suggestions included interactive websites,
printed brochures, and informal gettogethers. Future research is needed to
understand the effectiveness of each of these
approaches at integrating the 62 and older
students into the campus community.
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Academic Rigor
• Participants expressed differences related to
course expectations compared to the first time
they attended college. Future research is
needed to flesh out these perceived
differences.
• Policy recomendations
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