Back to School for Boomers
By Rebecca Miller
In today’s economy, retirement is not an option for many Baby Boomers. To add insult to injury, large numbers of them are being laid off or replaced with younger, more tech savvy job candidates. To combat the no-retirement and youngling-replacement blues, many baby boomers are returning to school as a means to refocus and repurpose their knowledge, skills and experience. They are also returning to school to gain the education necessary to take on second or encore careers.
Unlike any other generation, Baby Boomers have gone back to college in droves even before the Great Recession of 2008. In fact, there are so many of them attending schools they have actually changed the composition of colleges’ and universities’ student bodies. LifeWhile.com cited findings from The University Continuing Education Association that found adult students now make up more than half of college students. Furthermore, The Institute for Higher Education Policy said that the number of college students over 40 has tripled since 1970.
U.S. News and World Report indicated that nearly two million Baby Boomers were enrolled in higher education courses in 2007; a number the news source projected to grow swiftly in the next 10 years. To meet this growing trend, schools and organizations are accommodating and even encouraging Baby Boomers to return to the classroom. The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), for example, has the Plus 50 program, a three year effort to involve two-year higher education institutions in creating 50-plus campus degree programs, the examiner.com reported.
U.S. News and World Report also shared the story of a woman who went back to school at 55 years-old to get her GED. After earning her GED, the woman then earned her associate’s degree in restaurant management before achieving her lifelong dream of opening a restaurant. At 62 years-old, she planned to return to school once again to take classes in accounting.
The news source also shared stories of Baby Boomers who returned to school to get degree in preparation for their encore careers. Watson Caudill, a 30-year IBM veteran, went back to college to prepare for his encore career as a science teacher. Caudill is one of many Baby Boomers pursing late-life careers as either a means to achieve their lifelong dreams while helping their communities and giving back to society or simply because they can’t afford to retire.
Businessgreen.com reported that “between 5.3 million and 8.4 million people between the ages of 44 to 70 have shifted from midlife careers to encore careers, according to the 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey. Half of those surveyed who hadn't made the move indicated they were interested.”
The Dallas Morning News reported that four out of five Baby Boomers said they plan to work pass the traditional 62 retirement age. Additionally, many expressed interest in finding new jobs with flexibility and social purpose.
This spike in Baby Boomer higher education enrollment presents new opportunities for college and universities.
According to The Dallas Morning News, "The time's right for developing programs for Boomers trying to launch the next phase of their working lives and for employers faced with a brain drain over the next couple of decades," said Judy Goggin, a vice president for Civic Ventures.
Dallas’s Richland College is doing just that, “emerging as a national model for catering to Boomer students,” the news source reported. The school’s first retiree-focused program began in 1989 with 150 students, there is now more than 4,000 students enrolled. Richland currently offers Boomer-specific health professions and teacher certification programs as well as an additional 17 Boomer-specific courses in subjects ranging from computer skills to genealogy. Recently, Richland launched evening classes that teaches job searching, retirement planning, stress management and aging parents care.
The Baby Boomers boom in higher education enrollment is projected to continue. As old jobs evolve and new ones require untraditional skills, this generation will be forced to return to higher education to gain the skills necessary to compete in today’s job market.
In addition to having more degree program choices, Baby Boomers now have more learning options to choose from. Online degree programs allow Baby Boomers to explore a variety of degrees of interest while maintaining their everyday lives. Once enrolled in an online degree program, Baby Boomers can earn a higher level or new degree from the comfort of their own homes. Additionally, many online degree programs are specifically tailored to the needs of the adult learner. Visit UniversityDecisions.com to learn more adult learner-specific online and campus-based degree programs.