The University of Minnesota created a new center, the Midlife Academy, for middle-aged individuals looking to further their education and hone skills for their current career or to switch careers.
The program is separate from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University, which is for adults 50 and older, for additional courses without a clear end goal.
The Midlife Academy’s first course will start May 6 and end June 12.
Kate Shaefers, director of the Midlife Academy, said universities do a great job educating young adults, but they are missing support for older generations.
“There is a gap during those midlife years, and there’s a lot of turbulence, the world of work has changed dramatically,” Shaefers said. “People are needing to navigate careers in very different ways than they may have anticipated.”
The Nexel Collaborative is a national organization that supports colleges and universities developing programs similar to the Midlife Academy.
Bonnie Zavon, the Distinguished Career Institute manager at Stanford University and project manager for the Nexel Collaborative, said programs like these are necessary for this demographic.
“There are a lot of resources for young people getting their college degree, going into their next step,” Zavon said. “There is no transition for people after several careers moving to what’s next.”
A Gallup poll in 2022 revealed the average expected age of retirement in the U.S. is 66, compared to 60 in 1995. The poll also reported the percentage of adults retiring between 55-74 is declining by at least 5% overall.
“People are needing to rethink, what does it mean to be in your 50s and managing a career?” Shaefers said. “And people are anticipating working longer, but they don’t always want to stay in those jobs. So they’re having to figure out, what work fits with the life stage I’m in?”
Courtney Burton, an instructor at the Midlife Academy, will be teaching the first class, “Jump Start to What’s Next,” to help students figure out the next step in their career and education.
Burton said the class size will be small, under 30 students, to help establish a community, and added that this is an exciting time.
“It’s so fun being back to school, taking classes with young people, that’s a real joy and a benefit to the school having some people with life experience on campus,” Zavon said.
Chris Farrell, the senior economics contributor at MPR, said at an event hosted by the Academy that the event is for people who want to earn more money.
“If you’re creative in your 20s and 30s, you’re going to be creative in your 70s and 80s,” Farrell said. “The sort of inevitable decline that people talk about that’s so embedded in our culture, is just a stereotype, it’s a prejudice, and there’s so much resource that pushes against that.”
Farrell said it can be difficult to transition from a previous career after being established in a career for a long time. He said this program will help adults with that transition.
“This is cliche, but it’s lifelong learning,” Farrell said. “You can get people to roll their eyes really easily when you say the term lifelong learning, but the fact of matter is that is what we’re talking about.”
Shaefers said she hopes the new program will inspire students to connect and learn from others.
