$1 million endowment keeps seniors in the classroom

By: COLLEEN MENSCHING - Staff Writer
CSUSM adult learning program gets financial boost | Saturday, February 9, 2008 10:04 PM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- A new $1 million endowment from the San Francisco-based Osher Foundation is bolstering the future of the Cal State San Marcos Lifelong Learning program and the senior citizens it serves.

In 2004, the university founded the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute with a $400,000 grant from the foundation, which supports more than 100 senior citizen education programs throughout the country.

Four years later, the program has grown from 65 students to more than 600. But the original grant expired last year, and university officials had to hope that the Osher Institute would continue to support the program it had helped start.

"The goal is always to get the endowment," said Jan Jackson, dean of the university's extended learning program. "We progressed how we should have ... and Osher stayed with us."

Escondido resident John Sawtelle has stayed with Osher. Sawtelle joined the program at its inception and now serves on its curricula advisory board.

"I can't even recall how I heard about it," Sawtelle said. "What happened with me is what happens with most everyone else ---- they sign up for a class and they say, 'This is just awesome.' "

This term, Sawtelle is studying religions of the world and Italy's powerful Medici family. Other winter offerings include wine appreciation, American diplomacy and genealogy.

Sawtelle said the format of the classes, which ranges from three to six weeks, is especially appealing. There are no tests to take, no papers to write ---- just an opportunity for students 50 years of age and older to be taught by experienced professionals and professors such as Eugene Marseglia.

Marseglia holds a doctorate in art history and has lectured at the college level for more than 30 years. He said he's encountered exceptional young undergraduates in his career, but that adult learners bring a lifetime of experience to the classroom.

And he doesn't have to worry about whether adults are keeping up with the reading.

"I learn, too," he said. "The material I generally know, but over the years, it's amazing how you rethink and want to ---- not so much give it a different twist, but let it carry you where it will."

In the case of his current course on medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri, the material took him into two extra weeks of class.

"I'm working hard on Dante, to be sure. I asked for seven weeks instead of five, because the subject is so rich," Marseglia said.

Students in the program can reap more than just educational rewards, according to Dr. Gil Ho, a geriatric neurologist with Escondido-based Palomar Pomerado Health.

For instance, some research indicates that parts of the brain operate on a "use it or lose it" basis, and that it is possible to build a so-called cognitive reserve based on connections made in the brain.

Continued learning by seniors makes the connections that may help preserve memory function and ward off symptoms of dementia ---- even in people whose brains show physical deterioration associated with Alzheimer's disease, Ho said.

"Education has an impact on your cognitive reserve and on your memory reserve," he said. "If you can build that reserve, maybe you have the disease but you don't manifest it."

Making these benefits available to as many seniors as possible is part of the Osher mission, program director Janice Monypeny said.

Increasing the number of places classes are held was a priority because some seniors are not comfortable driving. Osher classes began in the Escondido Center for the Arts and expanded to other inland sites before classes were started in Oceanside.

Now, Monypeny said, at least half of the university's Osher students live in coastal cities.

Thanks to a suggestion from the curriculum advisory board, she's hoping to partner with large employers in the region to make sure that future retirees are aware that Osher classes are available to them.

"It's personal for me," said Monypeny, who also teaches art classes for the program. "I had a dear friend who was a stewardess, and she was so afraid to retire.

"These baby boomers have worked their whole lives, they haven't necessarily developed hobbies. They just keep working because they don't know what else to do."

The $1 million donation is expected to earn 4 percent annually for the program, but Osher classes cannot live by the endowment alone.

The program's $200,000 budget pays for one full-time employee, a part-time employee, instructors, rental space, classroom materials and marketing materials, according to Keith Butler, associate dean of the extended learning program.

"The endowment proceeds provide a solid foundation of support for the program, but member fees, volunteer support, and university contributions are significant components of the budget as well," Butler said.

Courses at the university range from $30 to $60 per term, depending on how long they run. Students can pay per course, or save money by purchasing annual or lifetime memberships with access to all classes.

Butler said costs are kept down thanks to volunteer participation, the university's donation of class space and other in-kind donations such as nearly $8,000 worth of audio and visual equipment from one university department so that Osher classes could be held off-campus.

This year, Osher also provided a $50,000 "bridge grant" to help fund the program until the endowment's interest payments start coming in.

For more information about the university's Osher Lifelong learning program, visit the Web site http://www.csusm-es.org/olli or call (760) 750-8714.

Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 or cmensching@nctimes.com.