Original Query from Kali Lightfoot, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), USM, Maine
I know that a number of states allow people over a certain age to register for college classes tuition-free. Maine has a similar law, except that the person wanting to attend a class must sign a brief form attesting to financial need. There is a bill in the Joint Education Committee to remove the need waiver and just allow people 65-and-older to audit post-secondary classes tuition-free on
a space-available basis. Does anyone out there have any data on the effects of this? There
doesn't seem to be any opposition to the bill, but there are lots of questions among the legislators and others, such as: Will it have financial drawbacks to the University? How many people will take
advantage of it? Are there states that allow people to take courses for credit and what is the experience of that? Will there be classroom management problems? Will it detract from our LLI
programs? Thanks for any data you can forward to me, or give me links to.

From Sarah Fletcher, Furman ILR, Furman University, SC
In South Carolina, people aged 60 and older who are retired, or people aged 65 (retired or not) are able to audit college level classes if: 1) there is space in the class, 2) with the permission of the professor. Furman University is a private, liberal arts school. We have a handful of people who audit classes here, but not many. One reason is that Furman is on a quarter system, so the classes meet every day, M-F. Our Learning in Retirement program has classes that meet once a week for
10 weeks, fall, winter and spring terms. We have 350 people taking our courses, and are offering 58 classes this winter term. I don't think that the audit program has over-loaded the University, nor has had a negative effect on our LLI program. It seems to be a wonderful thing all the way around. I hope Maine will institute a similar program.

From Bernard Dumoff, ILR, Albertus Magnus College, CT
Connecticut State Universities offer tuition free classes to senior citizens where classroom space is available. I, myself, have taken many classes at Southern Connecticut State University. There is a modest registration fee and I was able to attend classes as a matriculating student taking post grad courses.

From Mary Lewerenz, University for Seniors, University of Minnesota Duluth
Kali, I'm glad Maine was able to solve its tuition problem for seniors without legislation. I apologize for taking so long to respond. I thought there might be others on the Forum who might be interested in what is done here in Minnesota. From our Members Handbook: "Under the Senior Citizen Education Program (SCHRP) Minnesota residents 62 and older may audit courses free of charge or take courses for credit at $9.00 per credit whenever space is available after the first day of class. A computer access fee is charged for all classes taken for credit to access the Internet and email through UMD for the enrolled semester."