The idea of full-time adult education caught my attention some time ago. Inexpensive student housing, world-class athletic facilities, no lines at Student Health, lectures on almost every conceivable subject and wine and cheese parties: what’s not to like?
I did my research and was drawn to the idea of becoming a non-degree seeking “returning scholar” for $70 per semester at Southern Illinois University based on my onetime connection to the State and an accent that marks me distintively as a native. Blending in was going to be difficult enough as is without making things worse by speaking with an accent that marked me as a foreigner, or worse, someone from out of state. Moreover, as I had no interest in a degree, no student loans needed to be subscribed to finance the back to school project.
When I was in high school, SIU was viewed as a “party” school, second only to that august institution, the University of Colorado at Boulder. The fact that degree-seeking students balance life and work and perhaps don’t take academic pursuits that seriously was a vote in the school’s favor.
Other seniors have closely watched the “back to school” movement if not copying the concept outright. A senior female golfer was attracted by the low greens fees at another back-to-school university. Her dream, before life intervened, was to play on her school’s NCAA golf team. At the age of 60, she tried out and made the golf team and realized her dreams.
John McAffee became a drug-fueled, red-noticed Interpol international terrorist after his sixtrieth birthday. He didn’t go back to school but maybe he should have.
It’s never too late to reach for your dreams.
Next: why “Smoking for Seniors” is trending. Get all the benefits of tobacco with none of the risks: you will lose weight and have more energy. You won’t live long enough to develop tobacco-related disease. You can hang out with the cool kids on smoke breaks while puffing away and trying to dissuade them from the habit.