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LATE-BLOOMING SCHOLARSCollege enrollment for students 65 and older jumped 27% from 1991 to 1995For retired diplomat Lloyd Jonnes, this adage rings true: Otium sine litteris mors est, Latin for ''leisure without literature is death.'' In 1975, Jonnes semiretired from a 30-year, globe-trotting career and indulged his fascination with history and ancient languages by loading up on courses at Washington's Catholic University. By 1992, he had earned a PhD in ancient Greek and Latin and two years later wrote a book on stone inscriptions from the ancient Turkish city of Heraclea Pontica on the Black Sea. ''I am helping to discover and save the past,'' says Jonnes, now 74. Discovery has taken on new meaning for thousands of like-minded retirees. Once content to be passive, back-of-the-room auditors of the occasional college course, they're now moving into degree tracks. Enrollment for college students age 65 and older grew 27% from 1991 to 1995, and the Education Dept. says some 81,000 people over 65 are now part- or full-time students. Another 356,000 students are age 50 to 64. ''We're moving away from the traditional 'three boxes of life'--education, work, and retirement,'' says Ronald Manheimer, executive director of the privately and publicly funded North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement. ''We're going to see people floating in and out of, or combining, those activities.'' LEISURELY LEARNING. For 74-year-old Harry Gold, a marketing man who resurrected Dr. Brown's Cream Soda, college wasn't even a choice in his youth. Shipped off to World War II as a radio operator, he returned to join the workforce as a traveling soda salesman. After retiring in 1993, he headed to a satellite campus of Long Island University to study American history alongside pierced and primped Gen-Xers. ''At first I imagined them thinking, 'What in the hell is this old geek doing?''' Gold says. ''But I'd be crotcheting down the halls, and they'd always help me with my bag. It renewed my faith in young people.'' What Gold didn't love was exams. ''A real chore,'' he says. Yet he survived. He just graduated with a BA in history--and a 3.8 grade point average. Of course, discipline and test-taking are part of the college experience, so it's crucial to consider what you want out of school before you dash to the registrar's window. For non-credit, leisurely learning, 230 university-sponsored Institutes for Learning in Retirement offer low-cost seminars. Then there are the tuition-free audit classes, to be had at nearly 40 state universities, and educational tours through Elderhostel Inc. For those who want a degree program, 20 states provide tuition-free instruction for seniors at public universities. Private schools aren't as likely to offer such a free ride. And don't think you can avoid those core requirements. William E. Jackson, 69, a semiretired ad executive wrapping up a BA in philosophy at Northwestern University's night school, dreads required science classes. ''They'll be the last classes I take,'' he says. As a night-school student, Jackson didn't have to take the SAT, but some schools demand it depending on the program. For all the hassle, seniors who have an eye on a mortarboard say they couldn't motivate themselves without the discipline of for-credit classes. ''This isn't something you do haphazardly,'' says Creative Retirement's Manheimer. Beyond the classroom, you'll have to find your way around today's heavily computerized universities, almost all of which use the Internet for course materials and registration. Older degree-seekers find that decades of experience in the working world can come in handy. That became clear to Jonnes when he began translating tablets from Heraclea Pontica. Years before, he had helped Turkey set up a giant steel plant near the site and was able to coax plant execs to give him a tour of the area. ''I knew the plant and I could talk about what was going on,'' says Jonnes. That mix of timeworn experience and fresh curiosity is just one way this generation of older students is making the school house rock.
By Dennis Berman in New York RELATED ITEMS
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Updated July 9, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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