For Seniors, Audit Program Is Less “Back to School” and More “Constantly Be Learning”
Retired New Jersey residents ages 62 and older may take select undergraduate courses at Rutgers University on a space-available, noncredit basis
On Mondays and Thursdays, David and Virginia “Ginny” Keil head to Van Dyck Hall at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where the retired couple take their seats and soak in the course “The Arts of Power: Ritual, Myth and Propaganda.”
The class – taught by Alastair Bellany, a professor with the Department of History at the School of Arts and Sciences – explores how paintings, movies, poems and ceremonies have been manipulated to bolster the political authority of rulers such as Louis XIV, Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler and Elizabeth II.
Ginny Keil, 77, and David, 79, are taking the class as members of the Senior Citizen Audit Program, which allows retired New Jersey residents ages 62 or older to audit select undergraduate courses at the Camden, Newark and New Brunswick locations of the state university on a space-available, noncredit basis.
Developed by the Rutgers University Board of Governors in 1974, the Senior Citizen Audit Program started as a one-year pilot initiative. It proved so popular that university officials made the program permanent a year later.
There are no tuition costs for auditing courses. (Textbooks and other materials aren’t covered.) Participants don’t receive academic credit for audited courses and must obtain the approval of the professor teaching the class. Professors determine the level of involvement by the auditor. Some professors allow full participation – homework, tests and in-class discussions – while others allow auditors to only observe.
“Many senior citizens are drawn to the program because it allows them to engage in lifelong learning, stay intellectually stimulated and connect with a diverse academic community,” said Patricia Kastner, associate director of strategic events and programs for Rutgers Communications and Marketing. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Participants often express how auditing classes has reignited their passion for learning, kept them socially active and provided a sense of fulfillment. It’s truly inspiring to see how education continues to enrich lives at any age.”
Over the years, the Keils have taken a variety of Rutgers courses, ranging from art, music and film to agriculture, political science and, for David, astrophysics. The couple, who hail from Pittsburgh and reside in North Brunswick, N.J., also audited a number of history courses.
“History is something that neither of us really had much education in,” said David Keil, a former research chemist who “didn't take any history in college.”
He added, “We've tried a couple, and they were so interesting and so revealing about the past that we really enjoy auditing other history courses.”
David Keil said that, thanks to the audit program, he has gained a greater awareness of the influence of history and how it affects current events.
“It invigorates my day when we go to class,” he said. “It just keeps us alive. And I always wanted to retire in a college town, and I didn't expect a big university. But Rutgers is just wonderful for auditors.”
Ginny Keil, who worked as a licensed clinical social worker and earned her master's degree in social work from Rutgers at age 52, said she first heard about the audit program through a choir friend. She enrolled in 2016, taking a few courses. Her husband soon followed.
“In my undergraduate days, I barely got through any of the reading,” Ginny Keil said. “It was just difficult. You’d get through your courses, but you really don't digest as much as you should. So, I saw lapses in my education and I thought, well, why not do this? And it's been great. Absolutely great. Fantastic.”
She added, “I think I've filled in a couple of the holes in my education, certainly in history, and it just broadens my understanding of the world that I'm in. It gives me an understanding of the students. You can see how they function and where their thoughts are. So, it's been very broadening.”
The Keils, who have sung with members of the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir (known as Rutgers Kirkpatrick Chapel Choir at the time) as well as the University Choir and the former Rutgers Collegium Musicum, enjoy their fellow classmates as well.
“They're very respectful of us being in the classroom and sometimes defer to us, especially if it's a recent history course or political science course where we've lived it,” Ginny Keil said of the students.
Kastner, who coordinates online registration as well as outreach to potential and current participants, said in total there are about 1,500 seniors enrolled in the program, with roughly 400 auditing classes a semester, mostly at Rutgers-New Brunswick.
On average, most auditors enroll in one or two classes a semester, with about 240 attending in person and the rest participating in the course online. This semester’s pool of auditors includes an 89-year-old newcomer to the program who is taking a course on English poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer.
This semester’s group of auditors also includes Shelly Burrell, a former manager of security operations for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority who has done some acting in film and television.
“I was doing research, and this program came up,” Burrell said. “You have to constantly be challenging yourself just to keep that real estate from going south.”
Burrell, a Parlin, N.J., resident who worked as a probation officer for the New York City Department of Probations for more than 13 years, is auditing “Auditioning II” at the Philip J. Levin Theater in New Brunswick, N.J., taught by Cameron Knight, an associate professor with Mason Gross School of the Arts who heads the acting program and the bachelor of arts theater program.
“I'm learning a lot in that class because Cameron is really, really good,” Burrell said. “He is very direct with his teaching and he gives you workable tools to use for your acting. He's investing his time in you, and he wants you to do well.”
Noting that it is crucial to “constantly be learning,” Burrell added she plans to audit more Rutgers courses – perhaps one a semester.
“Absolutely,” said Burrell, who plays the saxophone and piano and does “a little” singing. “I’ll probably be taking a class in my 80s, I’m pretty sure.”
Timothy Eimer contributed to this article.
