Monday, December 14, 2009

AARP U @ 50

This is a video submitted in a contest by a 20 year old.
Simple yet brilliant
Click on the Title

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Update on links

Our blog is meant to do several things:

I want to let all of the older/returning students that I know you're out there and I'm right there with you, as is my co-blogger, Veronica!
Yes, I work 40 hours a week, sometimes more, travel 1 hour each way and get home about 5:30pm. My husband is the chief cook so I'm able to hole up in my computer room and do homework to my heart's content. My younger daughter is also attending college, living at home, so she understands as well.

It's not easy but you know what? It was my choice to return to school, so I knew, for the most part, what I was getting into. Sure, it's tough, but I get the same feeling I get when I finish exercising. I did it for me.

I hope others who are thinking about returning to school will ask for advice, for help, and for support. We all need that.

I've added some more links of great websites that offer some great suggestions, great articles and more information about financial aid.

GO FOR IT! We are worth it!

Encore

Great reading material for our little community.

AARP link - older workers returning to school

This is a wonderful article within AARP about older workers returning to school. Within the article are additional links about financial aid, etc.
It truly will be worth your while to return to school. What do you have to lose?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas Vacation Reading material

I came across a website - www.adultstudent.com - who mentioned a book that sounds very interesting and worthwhile. The Adult Student's Guide to Survival & Success, by Al Siebert, PhD, and Mary Kass, MS. I've ordered it just in time for Christmas vacation! Happy reading.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Why we Return to School

This is a reprint of an article that appeared in AARP, not that we, Betty and I are old enough to join, we just found it.
But it answers the question of why at our age we are going to school.
" Spring 2012. Colleges and universities have sent out their acceptances and rejections. Anticipation (and anxiety) strike older Americans nationwide as they check their mailboxes or click on admissions websites. This year the excitement over college is not for their children or grandchildren but for themselves.
About to step down from their companies, law firms, hospitals, or government posts, these eager 50-plus leaders are planning to step up to their next productive years of significant service. They hope to enter the Advanced Leadership School at their favorite university. They can't wait to grab a book bag and head to campus.
Imagine that future: fifty- and sixtysomethings gathering on a college campus for a year or two of advanced study to prepare for the rest of their lives. They want to eradicate diseases, end poverty, reverse global warming, raise literacy rates, create ventures to produce peace in the Middle East—there's no cause too big. They have drive and energy; they have a treasure trove of wisdom, experience, and connections. Now, they want the knowledge and credentials to take their leadership to the next level.
Someday soon, going to a university at 50 or 60 could be the norm. Someday, every major university will have graduate schools designed specifically for accomplished professionals who want to make the transition from their primary income-earning careers to their years of flexible service. Someday, corporations will include tuition for these schools in retirement packages and will support scholarships through their foundations. Someday, the federal government will offer tuition grants and tax breaks for attending universities after 50, to support new forms of philanthropy and public service that truly solve problems.
That's the vision I'm developing with Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria, David Gergen, and our colleagues from five professional schools at Harvard University. The idea is a new stage of higher education—call it "even higher" education—that turns experience into significance and produces a pool of much-needed leaders to improve communities, nations, and the planet. Higher education can redefine later life as a time for social entrepreneurship and public service.
This isn't going back to school. It's using school to move forward. Retirement options once ran the whole gamut from A to B. The two most common pictures were a life of aerobics and athletics (golf in particular), or running a bucolic bed-and-breakfast. Think of it as the Gerald Ford model. Now a more appropriate aspiration is to be a Bill—Clinton or Gates—and have the impact of a Jimmy Carter by starting a foundation and championing social causes. New models can include retired Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca's campaign to find a cure for diabetes, or actor Paul Newman's business venture to raise money for charity.
More and more Americans are expressing an interest in performing community service, but those who came of age in the 1960s seem to lead the charge, according to a recent survey by the MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures.
Baby boomers, now starting to turn 60, grew up under post-World War II child-centered philosophies, which gave them a clear sense of their own importance. The influence of Dr. Benjamin Spock was believed to be one reason the first wave of boomers so naturally felt like world changers back in the 1960s. Having been told from birth about their own significance, they aren't going to feel less significant simply because they've hit a career ceiling called retirement age.
The Civic Ventures survey shows that a majority of Americans between the ages of 50 and 70 want to benefit their communities by helping the poor, the elderly, and children, or by improving quality of life through the arts or the environment. Leading-edge boomers, ages 50 to 59, are the most emphatic about this. Many say they want to switch to a career in service now, not just in retirement. And nearly two thirds of those who never expect to retire say they're interested in a service career.
Older students want to eradicate diseases, end poverty, raise literacy rates—no cause is too big.
Traditional volunteering is not what leading-edge boomers have in mind. They want to be leaders and to help improve the world. In the Civic Ventures survey, respondents who thought they could have a major or moderate impact in their community were much more likely to want service opportunities than those who believed their impact would be small (55 percent versus 38 percent). The urge to serve in retirement is even stronger among the educated and affluent. Those who have achieved leadership positions want opportunities—significant opportunities—to use their experience, to accomplish something more satisfying than stuffing envelopes. "Connection" and "sense of purpose" loom large as reasons all 50- to 70-year-olds want to get involved in their communities, even more so for boomer women.
But for all the talk about what older boomers want to contribute, there are practically no ways to help them do it. How do they gain the knowledge and refresh their skills so they can end childhood hunger or save Newark? How do they use their considerable experience if they never earned a degree the first time around? When and where do they make the right connections?

College campuses—once the source of boomers' zeal for change—could be the launching pad to leadership, and to improving the state of the world. Of course, the educational model should feel right to accomplished adults, tailored to their life stage and experience. It shouldn't resemble the lecture halls, know-it-all professors, and musty textbooks of college memories. Sessions would be more like think tanks, in which faculty facilitate discussions about how to tackle major social needs. Participants could use the university as their sandbox, catching up on recent developments in their fields, and adding a language or a science skill. Their "dorms" would be two-bedroom apartments, with their spouses or partners as not just roommates but coparticipants in the program. Participants would be more like contributors than students, mentoring undergraduates or leading seminars for grad students. The presence of accomplished leaders could change universities in positive ways. And by focusing on the world's most daunting human problems, leaders will find direction for their next productive decades.
Earlier stages of higher education were oriented toward getting a job. Advanced Leadership Schools should be oriented toward creating a life business plan with high social impact. For their "dissertations," participants could, for example:
• Design a foundation.
• Create a new social enterprise or a business venture with a social purpose.
• Prepare a plan to take a nonprofit to the next level of effectiveness.
• Plan a run for public office, with positions on major social issues.
• Write a book that can initiate a national awareness campaign.
• Create plans to reshape a city by working on health, education, and jobs.
This kind of educational experience would reignite the passion of youth and marry it to the wisdom of experience.
A year or two of advanced leadership education is not for everyone. Not everyone has a graduate or professional degree, and many older Americans have never attended college. Once a leadership model is established, however, it will surely stimulate other schools to offer late-life higher education to help people transition to teaching or health services—or simply to complete education in a new field.
An Advanced Leadership School does something important for everyone approaching or looking back on 50. It establishes the third stage of life as a time with important tasks and responsibilities. And it restores higher education to its mission of serving society while supplying urgently needed leadership to make the world a better place. It turns an aging population from a burden to an opportunity."
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor at Harvard Business School and an adviser to corporations and governments worldwide. A former editor of the Harvard Business Review, she is the author of 16 books, including her latest bestseller, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin and End, (Crown Business, 2004).

Thanksgiving Break

As much as I am enjoying school, I am still thrilled to be on break!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

More info for returning students, just like Veronica & I!

Things to consider:
Why do I want to return to school?

Which schools do I want to attend?
  • Does the school have an online program that would be better for me and my schedule?
  • Can I transfer any credits from my previous school (s)?
  • Can I go part-time?

What are the costs?

These questions and more are from: http://www.collegeinfo.org/adults.pdf. Check it out.

Need information on scholarships?

Check out these websites. It may just lead you to some great scholarships, specifically for adults returning to school.
http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/nontraditional.phtml
http://www.collegescholarships.org/grants/adult.htm

Of course, your first step is to complete the FAFSA form (Free Application for Federal Student Aid): www.fafsa.ed.gov. It's rather involved but definitely worth it.

Be sure to check with your employer as they may have some kind of benefit for employees wanting to return to school.

Good Luck!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Mid Semester

We're halfway through the Fall semester. How's it going for everyone? My second class just began last Monday (it's the 8 week class) so I've become more and more intimate with my computer. I just told my husband that I'd see him around Christmas.
I'm also trying to learn more about blogging. On the advice of Veronica, I purchased the "Google Blogger for Dummies" book. Now I just need to read it. One step at a time, I always say.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Are You Serious?

41 is past mid- life! If you think you are past midlife then I must be ancient! Though a women that will tell you her age, will tell you ANYTHING!!

My name is Veronica and if you can't remember Archie Comics then you probably do not remember Betty or me, though Betty is 5-10 years younger.

The last time I was in college the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" was big, as was the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations", Frank Sinatra's "Stranger's in the Night" was the slow dance of choice. Bell bottoms and miniskirts were in as was Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are made for Walking".

The girls went to college for MRS degrees and a great many young men to avoid the draft.

The hippies created their own style of fashion, psychedelic colors, love beads, tie dyed shirts and the peace sign. We ironed our hair to look like Ali McGraw in "Love Story", lava lights and bean bag chairs were the dorm décor of choice. The boys were worried about going to Vietnam and if they would come back or should they go to Canada. We burned our bras and walk in marches. We were sure we would change the world.

I attended an all girl's school and was 'kicked out' of college for leaving campus on a closed weekend. I never told my children the story and as far as they knew I graduated. In fact only my closest friends knew the truth.

Until recently was, self-employed, retained executive recruiter in finance and financial services, mother of three, and grandmother of two; too make a very long story short, lost everything and spent a year volunteering, became the president of CURE, www.curenational.org, a prison advocacy group, but generally just moping around.

Decided to go back to school for myself, feeling when I graduate from law school, my present goal, will be 110 years old when I get to the Supreme Court. In the meantime hope I can do some good.

http://www.archiecomics.com/index.html

Thursday, September 24, 2009

National Academic Advising Association member seeking academic advice.

I have a question for my fellow mid-lifers. I can relate to the challenge of working full-time and squeezing college into my free time since that's how I completed both of my degrees. Still, as much as I enjoy learning, it is a blessed relief to not feel the pressure of homework due date. Goodness knows there are enough pressures in life without adding to them. It is comforting to know that after a hard day, I can go home and turn off my brain.

Lately though, I've been thinking that my brain is beginning to soften and that it might benefit from some exercise - at least more exercise than I've been giving it recently. Yes, it is comforting to relax in the evenings and to shut down my brain so that all it has to worry about is pumping oxygenated blood but does my mentally sedentary lifestyle come at a price?

I've found myself Googling online degree programs in search of one that might get me off the couch (figuratively.) So my question to Betty and Veronica is why should I do this? You've recently made a similar choice but what was it that got you to act and wind up doing homework with all of your free time?

Of course, there are practical reasons to go back to school and you might be doing all of this to make yourself more marketable or to position yourself for a new job or promotion, but I suspect that there was more to your decision than plain-old, vanilla practicality. Was there something within that pushed you forward? Something that might inspire other potential mid-life coeds like me?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Week 5

So, I find myself not nearly as stressed as I was last August when I was first learning Blackboard, taking two 4 credit hour classes, working full time (plus), and re-introducing myself to college and advisors and all it had to offer. I look back now and feel so relieved and so proud of myself.
I probably shouldn't have stated on 'paper' that I wasn't as stressed; I'm sure that will come back to bite me in about a month! My second class does not begin until mid-semester so that is certainly something new and exciting, I'm sure.

Midlife Prof

I am not a coed, and at 41 I am perhaps a little past midlife. Actually, given the way I eat, I am well past that point.

My name is Bill and I am a professor of Liberal Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield and our program has a rich history of working with students of all ages. At this point, I do not know how much I will post, but I am hanging around the e-sphere and perhaps I can answer a question or two.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Friends

But I am a Grandmother of two and Mother of three, and have decided to join my friend Betty at college, we had other things get in the way after we graduated Riverdale High.
Neither one got Archie, but we are still friends.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Grandma goes to college

Hello and welcome to the midlife coed blog! Please know that I am rather new at all this blogging stuff.
You have now been warned.
Ok, so I'm not really a grandma yet but I am the mom of two college students. Gee, I look so forward to three student loans.
This blog idea was created for a class project but we're hoping that it will turn into something helpful and informative for all of the mid-lifers returning to school.
We want this to be a sounding board and resource for older students, although younger students are certainly welcome and encouraged to participate as well.