WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S NEW CREDIT INITIATIVE FOR MATURE ADULTS WHO SEEK TO STUDY WITH THEIR PEERS  

Westchester Community College is now offering mature adults the opportunity to take courses with their peers. Starting this fall, the college will join a national effort to expand offerings to adult learners ages fifty and above.
 
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has selected eleven community colleges to help older students earn credits through these courses, to receive job training, and to earn certificates or degrees relating to healthcare, education or social services. These institutions including Westchester Community College have received grants to enable them to take on these additional services.
 
For decades, Westchester Community College has offered non-credit courses for those fifty and older. The institution will now offer college entry and degree completion opportunities designed for mature adults who have never attended college or who are returning after a long absence. Credit courses will be offered at the Valhalla campus or online. Students in these classes will learn with their peers in a supportive environment that provides the opportunity to gain the skills and confidence necessary to make their transition a success.

“This population has been severely impacted by the economic recession, and earning a college degree or certificate can be crucial to keeping current employment or seeking new opportunities,” says Dr. Joseph N. Hankin, President, Westchester Community College. “We are working with AACC to respond to the needs of these mature adults by providing support services for these students and helping to remove barriers to advanced education. We are certain that this expansion will help these individuals reach their educational and career goals,” he says.  

The goal of the AACC Plus 50 Encore Completion Program expansion is to reach 100 colleges and 10,000 additional “Plus 50” students by 2015. Westchester Community College is now a Plus 50 Champion College. These newly designated “Plus 50 Champion Colleges” will assist with evaluating and supporting the 100 new Plus 50 Encore Completion colleges as they put in place programs to help baby boomers heading back to school to re-train for careers that give back. Several colleges will also participate in a speaker’s bureau designed to distribute broad information to community colleges about how to work with baby boomer students, who bring unique needs and strengths to college campuses.

The Plus 50 Champion colleges will build on their own experiences from working with the tidal wave of baby boomers turning to community colleges to re-train for new jobs when the economic recession left many unemployed.

Since 2008, the Plus 50 Initiative at AACC has focused much of its effort on training programs to get unemployed older adults back on the job. Lumina Foundation currently funds the participation of community colleges in the Plus 50 Completion Strategy, which is helping baby boomers complete degrees or credentials. AACC’s Plus 50 Initiative began with support from The Atlantic Philanthropies.

For more information, contact Westchester Community College’s Judith Kelson at 914-606-7704 or back2college@sunywcc.edu.
 
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is a national organization representing close to 1,200 community, junior and technical colleges. Community colleges are the largest and fastest growing sector of higher education, annually enrolling more than 13 million students. Information about AACC and community colleges may be found at www.aacc.nche.edu.