The Over-25 Set Moves In

By Susan Tifft

After twelve years as a secretary, Mary Bruce, 36, of Kent, Ohio, decided to put typing and filing behind her and prepare for more challenging work in advertising. Ron Katz, a 33-year-old New Yorker, concluded he had gone about as far as he could as a theatrical lighting designer; it was time for a change. And Californian Bettigene Johnson, a 59-year-old great-grandmother, saw a last chance to get the degree that she long ago postponed for family and community service.

All three are pursuing a common path to their various aspirations. They are going to college, whether returning or enrolling for the first time. And although they may be older than some of their professors, that hardly makes them stand out in class. According to the College Board, more than 6 million students -- 45% of those enrolled in American college programs -- are 25 or older. The number of such students jumped 79% between 1969 and 1984. Within a decade, this new group of learners, 60% of whom are women and 70% of whom work full time, will make up a majority in college classrooms.

One reason for the surge in older students is demographic. The baby bust of the late '60s and '70s has meant a shrinking pool of college-age youngsters. To fill half-empty lecture halls -- and depleted coffers -- schools have actively begun to court members of the over-25 set. At the same time, the shift toward service industries and advanced technology has made higher education attractive to workers who want or need to upgrade their careers. "The changing world of work brings lots of people back," says Harvey Stedman, dean of New York University's School of Continuing Education, one of the oldest and largest adult programs in the country.

Mature students are often more focused and less obsessed with competing than their teenage counterparts, who are apt to fret over grades and whether they have a date on Saturday night. An impressive 21% of the 443 graduates of Smith College's Ada Comstock Program, which enrolls women 22 and older, are holders of Phi Beta Kappa keys; 45% walk away with honors. Says Eleanor Rothman, director of the eleven-year-old program: "These women know what they are doing."

They are also demanding consumers. As the number of older students has risen, so have calls for on-site day care, flexible course schedules to accommodate full-time jobs, longer hours for campus bookstores and libraries, and more aggressive job counseling and placement. Schools are rethinking who they are. "We have had to come down from our ivory tower," says Donald Baker, dean of the College of Continuing Education at Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.). "Quality and service are as important in education as in industry."

To integrate its older students into campus life, Chatham College, a small liberal arts school for women in Pittsburgh, renovated a separate dorm for adults. Berry Hall is convenient, affordable ($350 a month for a mother and child, including utilities); day care is provided nearby. The University of California at Santa Cruz, where 1,500 of the 9,000 students are beyond the keg-party stage, provides subsidized family housing.

To cater to women scattered across the farm belt, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College near Terre Haute, Ind., lets students earn degrees through independent study, conferring with professors by phone and mail. The program accounts for more than half the college's 950 students. Many of the women are retooling for off-the-farm careers to supplement their family income. For Teresa Miller, 40, who is working toward a degree in social work, studying on campus would have meant commuting 100 miles a day. "This way," she says, "I can pick up the kids, do errands on the farm and still go to school."

Money is perhaps the most serious obstacle for older students, who are often ineligible for college scholarships because of their part-time status. Increasingly, companies are filling the gap, subsidizing at least part of their employees' education costs. At R.I.T., 70% of the students in the continuing-education program get corporate support.

Not all older students find themselves juggling children, term papers and jobs, of course. Many -- mostly the nation's growing population of retirees -- seek out campuses for old-fashioned intellectual fulfillment. "Ever since I got out of college, I wanted to go back," says retired lawyer Robert Friedman, 73, who is one of 400 students enrolled in Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement, a program of courses specially created for and taught ! by retirees on the Cambridge campus. Eckerd College, strategically located in St. Petersburg, has even opened a 133-unit senior citizen condominium on its campus, complete with 60 nursing beds.

As the average age of the U.S. population continues to rise, the future for adult education seems bright. "I could easily go to school for the rest of my life," says Chatham student Bobbi Hill, 38, who flunked out of college the first time around but is now on her way to a degree in history and philosophy. In the decades to come, colleges are gambling that millions of adults will share her enthusiasm.

With reporting by Michele Donley/Chicago and John E. Gallagher/New York