Universities are among the most age-segregated of institutions, catering almost exclusively to young people in their late teens and early 20s, even as new demographic realities render this educational model obsolete.

With unprecedented numbers of adults living longer, many want or need to learn and earn longer too. A new life stage—an encore to conventional adulthood—is opening up between the career- and family-building years, and the frailties associated with old age. Most people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are healthy, energetic, and often surprised to be pushed into retirement or laid off with few job prospects. While some want to move into full-time leisure, the vast majority seek new pursuits, whether paid or unpaid, that offer meaning and purpose. But they find few roadmaps and few options for long-life learning at universities.

This reality represents a lost opportunity for all parties—older adults and younger ones, universities and society at large. Older and younger adults, both grappling with increasingly ambiguous and uncertain futures, must find their own way without the benefit of each others’ experiences and perspectives. By focusing only on young people, universities pass up a chance to add a new source of revenue, diversify and enrich campus life and learning, and leave a bigger mark on the future. Society, perhaps, loses the most, as younger and older adults represent largely untapped pools of talent that can be marshaled—individually and together—to respond to the social, economic, and environmental shocks characterizing life in the 21st century.

In 2017, we launched the University of Minnesota Advanced Careers Initiative (UMAC) to help older adults discover new futures, bring the generations together, and reimagine higher education as a welcoming place for people of all ages. UMAC connects multigenerational learning with social impact work, bringing younger and older students together in classes that address issues like inequality, climate change, global health, and social justice. These classes have fostered collaborative, cross-generational relationships that often extend beyond the classroom.

Read the full article about age-integration in higher education by Phyllis Moen and Kate Schaefers at Stanford Social Innovation Review.