Tom Meuser interviewed for the United Kingdom’s leading publication on higher education

Tom Meuser, Ph.D., director of the Center for Excellence in Aging and Health (CEAH), was recently interviewed for an article in Times Higher Education, a weekly magazine based in London, reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.

The article, “Baby boomers back on campus as U.S. universities surf silver wave,” is about retirees being invited to live and take classes alongside younger students.

Enrollment of traditional-aged undergraduates in the United States is down by seven percent since 2011, according to the Department of Education, while the number of baby boomers who want to stay active in retirement is soaring.

According to Meuser, “They comprise a population to court both for potential degree seeking students as well as for relationships to support the bottom line.”

Meuser oversees UNE’s Legacy Scholars Program, an initiative in which adults aged 60 and older are invited to support faculty and students as they conduct research in aging.

CEAH has teamed up with a new housing complex for people aged 55 and older where students and residents will learn from each other.

“If you’re just going at it for the money, without providing the coordination or the exchange or the ways to engage, it’s just not going to work,” Mesuer told Times Higher Education. “It’s a whole package, and ultimately these relationships thrive when there are strong benefits for the institution, the students, the faculty and the older adults.”