Money Crashers: Free & Cheap College Classes for Seniors

I've often thought that my college years were the best time of my life. Don't get me wrong, there are things about my life now that I love and wouldn't want to give up, including my husband, my house, my cats, and this blog. But there were two great things about college that I've never had at any other time in my life. First, I was living in the same place with all my friends, and we all had pretty much the same schedule, so we could hang out together any time—there was none of this calling and e-mailing back and forth just to find a night we're all free to play games. And second, what we called work back in college was studying—reading books, writing papers, learning interesting things. In other words, the kind of thing I have to make a special effort now to make room for in my schedule alongside all my actual work, the kind I get paid for.

When I've thought about how I'd like to spend my retirement, I often think that what I'd really like to do would be to go back to college, or at least someplace like it, where I could live with all my friends and take classes for my own enjoyment. I'm still not sure if there's a way to manage the first part of that, but I've discovered that the second part—taking classes—is not only possible, but could actually be free if I play my cards right.

It turns out, there's at least one college in every state in the country that allows senior citizens to take classes for free, or for a steeply discounted cost—usually just to audit, but sometimes actually for credit. Most schools have rules establishing that these non-paying seniors can only take classes that aren't full, so they aren't taking space away from full-paying students, but that still leaves lots of fun little obscure classes to choose from.

On top of this, there are "lifelong learning programs" at lots of colleges that are specifically for seniors. And there are even whole retirement communities located on or near college campuses, so the residents can hang out and take part in college activities—sometimes including classes.

I've rounded up all the free and discounted college options for senior citizens that I could find in my latest Money Crashers piece: Free & Cheap College Classes for Senior Citizens (By State & University). I realize, of course, that a lot of these programs will probably have changed by the time I'm ready to retire—but it's still something to look forward to. And for any readers who have reached retirement age already, it could be something to check out right now.