Bucolic College Towns
The postage stamp size ads found on the back pages of The New Yorker often call to your attention the advantages of living near a campus. Particularly in smaller towns, colleges frequently offer cultural events that would not otherwise be found and medical resources that, as we get older, we increasingly need. For those reasons, as well as others, retirees often consider retiring in communities with universities.
Since institutions of higher education have been getting some bad press (and some negative posts even in this blog) I thought I would remind you of the advantages of residing near an Ivory Tower (especially in the summer.) It is also the case that I am not close to my goal of a post-a-day and this subject allows me to recycle some work I did a while back. It may be useful if you are old and looking for a place to live.
[I originally wrote the following piece for the newsletter - The Bottom Feeder - which was an in-house organ that discussed various issues and was designed to point students to the various resources to which they had access. It appeared in December 2005. Since it still contains some useful information, but is no longer available on the library website, it is reproduced here.] - some updates follow.
Senior Citizens on Campus - to Stay!
Recently an article in Business Week pointed out that the term "college-bound senior" now has a double meaning since there are more and more geezers among the greeks and real seniors at the senior proms. Not all septuagenarians are opting for shuffleboard in the southern sunshine it seems, and many appear to be heading back to the college towns they left or to those they find attractive.
While the degree to which the retirees or "empty-nesters" are associated with the college or university varies (many are alumni), it seems that they have in common the desire to be in a socially and intellectually active environment. One group of physicists around Ithaca is so academically active they contend that Cornell has only the second best department and that the best is in their retirement community.
The degree to which the university is associated with the retirement community also varies; some are on college land, while others are simply close by and unaffiliated. Some of the communities are run by the Quaker-related Kendal Corporation and you can get an impression of some of the goals and objectives of such communities by looking at some of the web sites we offer below. As well, we provide a brief bibliography on the subject and all of the articles are available to members of the Ivey/Western community.
Although we have seen many Canadian discussions about "life-long learning" and creative cities made up of diverse populations, we have not read about any campus-linked retirement communities in Canada. Perhaps Western could work a swap with RiverBend - our classes and learning resources for access to their golf course.
Sources: "Seniors Opting to Retire With a Bunch of Class," Tatsha Robertson, Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Oct. 17, 2005, p.1; "Hillsdale College Plans $65m Retirement Facility," anon., Toledo Business Journal, July 4, 2005, Vol. 21, No.9, p.1; "UM Unveils Retirement Community," Alex Philippidis, Westchester County Business Journal, July 4, 2005,Vol.44, No.27, p.7; "Big Seniors on Campus,", Business Week, July 26, 2004,No.3893, p.99; "Grandparents Are Returning to College to Retire," Karen Alexander, The New York Times, May 11, 2003, p.8; "Back to School: College Retirement Communities are Hot - But Don't Dig Out Your Old Letter Sweater Yet," Ronald J. Manheimer, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 22, 2001, p.R8; "White Hairs Settle in Among the Ivory," Jay Tokasz, The New York Times, Mar. 21, 2001, p.H12; "Denison Grad Retirement Home to Offer Campus Life," Jeff Bell, Business First, July 16, 1999, p.28; "Retiring to Alma Mater: A Growing Number of Colleges Help Develop Housing for Their Alumni," Katherine S. Mangan,The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan.19,1994, p.A31.
Demographic studies are readily available in the Western Libraries. For a good recent book see Older Americans: A Changing Market (part of the American Generations Series). See also the "Demographics" section of AcademicMarketResearch.com where you will find, for example, this study: "Market Looks: 55+ Consumers in the U.S." See also the Ipsos Trend Report (Vol.20, No.5) which contains the following article "Social Perspectives: Canadians are Keen on Continuing Education".
[After 10+ years some of the links that were provided no longer work. Here are some current ones that will:]
Dartmouth: http://kah.kendal.org/
Denison: http://kag.kendal.org/
Lasell: http://www.lasellvillage.com/
Oberlin: http://kao.kendal.org/
Stanford: https://paloalto.viliving.com/
U. of C. Davis: http://www.retirement.org/davis/
U. of Florida: https://www.oakhammock.org/
U. of Michigan: http://universitycommons.org/
Washington & Lee: http://kalex.kendal.org/
[ In 2006 we provided an update in Vol. 6, No. 3, July 2006 of The Bottom Feeder:]
“Campus-Based Retirement Communities”
Our brief background piece on this subject attracted some attention - see "Senior Citizens on Campus - To Stay!" BF, Dec. 2005. The subject is covered thoroughly in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education which begins with this comment: "With 76 million baby boomers expected to retire over the next two decades, some colleges and universities are already scrambling to meet the needs of what could be their most important senior class ever. In addition to the 30 or so college-affiliated retirement communities that already exist, at least two dozen more are in various stages of development. Colleges, which will soon face a dwindling population of traditional students, increasingly see such communities as a way to drum up new revenue by bringing wealthy alumni back to the campus for undergraduate classes, football games, and cultural events. Retired faculty members, former presidents, and the general population are welcome, too." See: "Getting Smarter With Age: New College-affiliated Retirement Communities are Learning from their Forebears, " by Audrey Williams, June, CHE, July 14, 2006.
[ The Bottom Feeder was produced by the staff in the C.B. “Bud” Johnston Library at Western University in London, Ontario. I provided all the content and am alone responsible for any comments or errors. The publication is no longer available on the library website.]
Additional Information
For a more recent article see: “College Towns Can Be Attractive Later in Life,” by Amy Zipkin, The New York Times, Nov.25, 2016.
US News & World Report
This magazine often provides rankings and ratings related to colleges and universities. It has also covered the subject of retirement in relation to campuses.
The site is somewhat difficult to search and one has to pay for the articles found. Here is a recent article followed by some others written since 1993.
“Should You Buy a House in a College Town?: Before you Buy Property in a College Town, Make Sure to Weigh the Pros and Cons of your Purchase,” Megan Wild, U.S. News & World Report, June 26, 2017.
“It's Back to the Old Alma Mater: Retiree Villages are Going up Apace near Campus,”U.S. News & World Report ;(June 14, 1993): 101-103.
“The proliferation of retirement communities near college campuses in the US is discussed. Retirement villages are popular because they offer retirees access to an intellectual climate and sophisticated medical care they otherwise wouldn't have access to.”
“A Permanent Homecoming,” Emily Brandon,
U.S. News & World Report ; (Nov 6, 2006): 62.
“Retirement Communities 101: Seniors Flock to College Towns,” Tamar S. Snyder,
U.S. News & World Report; (Aug 2010): 1
“Boomers Flock to Niche Retirement Communities,” Daniel Bortz,
U.S. News & World Report; (Apr 2012): 1.
“10 Reasons to Retire in a College Town,” Emily Brandon,
U.S. News & World Report; (Apr 2012): 1.
Some Canadian Content
The consulting firm Academica Group covers higher education in Canada (they are based about a block from me in London, Ontario.) They have noted this development in their newsletter Top Ten:
“Canadian Universities Pursue on-campus Seniors' Residences,” Top Ten,
September 9, 2008
“There is growing interest among Canadian universities to develop retirement facilities on campus. The University of British Columbia hopes to complete a 180-unit seniors' residence within 2 years, which would make it the second university in Canada, following the University of Guelph, to establish a seniors' residence. Trent University and Université Laval are considering such projects. On-campus retirement communities would boost universities' endowment funds, and residents could serve as research subjects for human kinetics and nursing students.”
Postscript: Sep 11 2008
“Yesterday we reported that the University of British Columbia would be the second institution in Canada, following the University of Guelph, in operating an on-campus seniors' residence. Top Ten subscriber CJ de Jong points out Red Deer College runs Bethany CollegeSide, whose website says it is "the first community in Canada where continuing care is fully integrated within a college setting." UBC would then be the second university to run such a residence.”
For a good article from 2008 see: “Retired and the Living is Easy – On Campus: No Noisy Nights or Beer-fueled Brawls at this Residence,” BY Moira MacDonald, University Affairs, Sept. 8, 2008. It begins this way and continues with a discussion of the University of Guelph:
“The universities take it to a whole other level,” says Andrew Carle, director of the program in assisted living and senior housing administration at George Mason University, just outside Washington, D.C. “No traditional retirement community can compete resource-wise with what a university has to offer. It’s game, set, match.”
In the United States, more than 100 retirement communities have opened or gone into development with ties to a university or college in the last 20 years. Some have run into trouble, typically when the university has taken too large a role in the financing and management of a project. Based on what he sees as a reasonable, 10-percent participation rate by American colleges and universities, Professor Carle figures the U.S. could have more than 400 university-affiliated retirement communities within 20 years.”
“Partners to Build Research Centre for Seniors at the University of Waterloo,” Canada Newswire, Aug. 29, 2011.
“An ambitious partnership involving the Ontario government, postsecondary sector and Schlegel Villages will develop a centre of excellence for research, training and innovation in senior health care and wellness at the University of Waterloo. The goal is to help Canada better prepare for an aging population.”
“Sky's the Limit at Next-generation Communities; Research the Ever-evolving Adult Lifestyle Environment to Find the Perfect Home,” Tara Nolan, The Toronto Star, June 22, 2013.
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