For most undergraduates on the Hill, classes revolve around anxiety-inducing tests and essays that require countless hours of studying at Tisch Library. For some of their non-traditional peers, however, trekking uphill is far from a day job.
Through the Office of Graduate Studies and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Tufts offers area residents an opportunity to take classes at the university without officially matriculating. While both programs require their students to pay for classes, each is tailored toward its unique clientele.
Community Auditors: Non-Traditional Students in a Traditional Environment
This semester, 33 students, ranging in age from 22 to 63, are enrolled through the Community Auditor program in undergraduate and graduate classes, according to the Program Administrator at the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies Angela Foss.
"Being older and having lived through a considerable amount of life, I was looking for educational stimulation," Marty Santis told the Daily. Santis, who earned his undergraduate and medical degree from Tufts in 1958 and 1962, respectively, has taken 21 classes through the Community Auditors program: one per semester since he retired in 2001. He is currently enrolled in Western Political Thought.
Santis said that he feels like a peer, rather than a mentor, sitting among fellow students who have only recently graduated from high school.
"Based on my life, and my age, I might have an occasional perception that may be broader than an undergraduate may have, but I don't think I'm a great sage sitting in class," he said.
"I take whatever course interests me most," Santis said. "Of course, there's a certain spectrum of how much I've enjoyed each of the classes, but I have enjoyed every one of them."
Students in the Community Auditors program are allowed to enroll in one of the university's undergraduate or graduate-level lecture classes on the Medford/Somerville campus within the first two weeks of the semester. Before registering for classes, these students must communicate with the professor to ensure that they have the necessary prerequisite knowledge necessary to participate.
"Every one of my professors has been welcoming," Santis said. "The experience has been extraordinary and I'm very proud of the school. Taking classes has been a highlight of the later part of my life."
While community auditors don't receive a grade or credit for courses, they can arrange with the classes' professor whether or not to take the exams their full-time student peers are required to complete, Foss said. Other than changes in formal assignments, what community auditors experience in class isn't all that different from their full-time peers.
"I tend to be a talkative and interested person, but I'm careful to not talk too much because I know this is the primary thing that these students are doing," Santis said. "[The students] are forthright and speak up in a way that 50 years ago we didn't do. I admire them very much."
Each semester, community auditors pay $300 to take one class at the university. To qualify, these students must be a Medford or Somerville resident, a teacher, a senior citizen or a Tufts alum, Foss said.
"Students have had very positive feedback on the program," Foss said. "It allows them to sit in on a Tufts course at a very reasonable fee."
Osher: Continuing Education Among Those Who Love to Learn
While Santis sits in his class this semester among 18- to 21-year-old undergraduate students, 290 non-traditional students are also taking classes through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
"It's like going back to college without the tests or grades," Osher Program Director Marilyn Blumsack said. "We have very attentive students, who ask wonderful questions, who just hang on every word that is discussed."
Unlike the Community Auditors program, the Osher program hosts its own classes, separate from the undergraduate and graduate programs, each season: Fall and spring classes are eight weeks, costing $225 for two classes, and winter classes are four weeks, costing $100. Full-time students at Tufts are allowed to sit in on Osher classes for free, Blumsack said.
"There's a great interchange and everyone benefits because of the dialogue that goes on in the class," Blumsack said. "The feedback is phenomenal."
Professors for the classes, who Blumsack calls "study group leaders," are either graduate students who are paid for their time or volunteers from the students enrolled in the class, who Blumsack calls "members" or "scholars." These students can enroll in a variety of classes, from "Health Care Models Around the Globe" to "The Sounds of China: Introduction to Mandarin Chinese."
"It's learning together," Blumsack said. "Even the study group leader learns because they don't know at any time whether there's a professional person that's more knowledgeable of the subject that they're teaching sitting the class."
Students in Osher, who range in age from 30 to 90, can take the program's classes at the university's Medford/Somerville campus, online in Osher's eLearning option or at Brookhaven, a retirement community in Lexington, Mass.
Like Santis, Blumsack is a Tufts graduate herself and has been Osher's director since March 2001, a year after the program began. While she plans to retire this month, she said she hopes Osher will continue to flourish after she leaves.
"For me, it's been a labor of love," Blumsack said. "This is an incredible community of students."
