It’s Boomtime for College Reinvention Programs
New offerings from Yale, USC and other universities focus on helping midlife and older adults figure out their next chapter and make an impact
People in their 50s and 60s looking to find meaning and purpose in their lives and make an impact can turn to a growing number of colleges and universities for assistance.

Midlife and later-life reinvention programs are blossoming at institutions across the country, with new ones starting soon at Yale, the University of Southern California and Boston College. Application deadlines for these programs are rapidly approaching.
College Programs for Personal Growth
Unlike one-off continuing education courses on topics like film or art history, like those from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, reinvention programs are about personal growth, introspection and exploration. After these new programs end, some graduates go on to start or work at nonprofits and social-impact businesses, take on public service duties, teach or mentor.
"We hope they don't just go back to their same lives," said Bonnie Zavon, project manager for the Nexel Collaborative alliance of schools with such offerings.
Zavon said she thinks institutions have launched about 15 programs since she began steering Nexel in 2020, and another dozen or so have dialed into Nexel member meetings to find out how they can do this.
The programs — with names like Experienced Leaders Initiative and Change Makers — typically have about 20 to 30 students and run the gamut in length (four months to one year), cost (under $4,000 to $70,000+) and location (either fully on campus or hybrid with a few days on campus and most sessions held remotely).
'A Flowering of a New Stage of Education'
"The proliferation of these programs is coming with a greater variety and different kinds of institutions and a flowering of a new stage of education," said Marc Freedman, co-director of Yale's forthcoming Experienced Leaders Initiative, founder and Co-CEO of the social impact organization Cogenerate and a 2017 Next Avenue Influencer in Aging. "People are starting to have options, which is nice." (Yale School of Management is a sponsor of Next Avenue.)
"People are starting to have options, which is nice."
Harvard launched the idea in 2009 with its Advanced Leadership Initiative; Stanford introduced its Distinguished Careers Institute in 2015. Both are elite, highly selective, pricey, yearlong, on-campus programs.
Like many senior living communities, these initiatives and Boston College's similar new Companions program don't reveal their cost on their websites. They prefer to say it's commensurate with a year of graduate school there, which means in the $70,000 to $80,000 neighborhood.
Freedman conceded that some programs, including his at Yale, are out of reach for many people who'd like to take them.
The Need to Bring Down Costs
"We need to do much more to make these kinds of education offerings widely accessible," he said. But, Freedman added, "we're at a really important turning point and starting to see the second wave of offerings that are going to be available to a wider range of people over different lengths of time but with the same goal of helping people leverage their experience to find meaning, purpose and connection."
"We need to do much more to make these kinds of education offerings widely accessible."
The newer programs are typically shorter and less expensive than the original ones. Often, they're intergenerational and mostly remote. Claremont Graduate University's SOAR program, launching in March 2025, and University of Colorado Denver's Change Makers program are both four-month hybrid programs costing just under $4,000.
A shorter, hybrid version lets people enroll while they're still working and before beginning retirement.
Classes usually don't require students to take exams or write papers. They are generally taught by a diverse mix of professors from a variety of disciplines. Some programs permit their participants to audit undergrad or graduate school classes.
Where Older Students Learn from One Another
But the programs also expect the students — frequently called Fellows — to learn from one another. That's because the participants are in a similar stage of life, contemplating big questions like: Who am I? What do I want to do next? How can I make a difference in my community, in the world or with my family?
"We are expressly leaning into the idea of purpose and social impact," said Tara Hein-Phillips, executive program lead at USC's Distinguished Leaders Program.
Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy program in Baja Mexico and Santa Fe, New Mexico, calls this transitional stage "a midlife chrysalis" that leads to becoming "a liberated elder, someone with gravitas and levity."
Making Use of Prolonged Lives
Margaret Laurence, director of the Boston College Companions program, attributes the growth of reinvention programs to demographics, with so many people living into their 90s or 100s. She said colleges are asking, "How are we helping those individuals in those 30 to 40 years of life after retirement?"
The programs aim to help their students figure out their next chapters, find ways to begin them and be pragmatic about it all.
"We're hoping to advance people's progress on this journey but also to give them a realistic understanding that this can be a bumpy road and it could take more than six months to navigate that transition," said Freedman.
3 New College Programs for Midlife and Later-Life
Here's a look at three of the new programs, from Boston College, USC and Yale:
Who the program materials say it's for: "A select cohort of accomplished professionals with at least 20 years of experience who will reflect together, explore new directions, and consider life's next chapter amid Boston College's distinctive culture of inquiry, excellence and service to the greater good."
Key component: Companionship, spirituality and Boston College's Jesuit commitment to the common good (individuals from all faith traditions and spiritual backgrounds can apply).
How long: One year, January through December 2025.
Where, when and how: On campus at Boston College where Fellows audit up to three undergraduate or graduate courses in both spring and fall semesters, plus a one-week mid-May pilgrimage to historic Jesuit sites in Spain and Rome and an optional five-day silent retreat in late May/early June in Dover, Massachusetts.
Program pillars: Purpose, discernment and spirituality with a Living Life Fully series of sessions and a Conversations with Boston College Leadership and Jesuits series.
Cost: Commensurate with one year of Boston College graduate education plus the cost of housing; financial assistance is available to those who have spent careers in public service or the nonprofit sector.
Application deadline: September 1, 2024.
How Laurence explained the program: "The Conversations with Boston College leadership and Jesuits is meant to be a space where the Fellows will have an opportunity to think about enduring problems and complex questions."
Who the program materials say it's for: "Seasoned professionals 55+ ready to transform visionary ideas into tangible global solutions, while focusing on social impact through a collaborative approach" and "who can bring passion projects to the world during a year of personalized learning and exploration with global changemakers."
Key component: Small group sessions and one-on-one time with instructors. "We want this to feel very much like we can help you personalize your plan for the future," said Hein-Phillips.
How long: Nine months, October 2024-June 2025.
Where, when and how: A hybrid model with four weeks at campus locations around Los Angeles and in Washington, D.C., and the rest of the time remote.
Program pillars: Creating a sustainable future, hacking the future, storytelling, goal setting, social impact, prioritizing health, wellness and longevity plus creating a final project.
Cost: $55,080.
Application deadline: September 1.
How Hein-Phillips explained the program: "We decided to go with a hybrid delivery and not a year-long relocation onto campus because we wanted people who would maybe be aligned around the mission of really wanting to build something and maybe catching people a little earlier in the trajectory . . . . The kind of candidate we're looking for is probably somebody that is a little bit adventurous, maybe a little forward thinking, probably a little Type A. That doesn't mean we don't take people who have already retired."
Who the program materials say it's for: "Experienced leaders transitioning out of their primary careers who are committed to using their wisdom, curiosity and expertise toward a meaningful next chapter"
Key component: Intergenerational learning and interaction. "We're in the process of forging partnerships with organizations of young change makers so participants in ELI will be able to connect with, and collaborate with, them," said ELI Co-Director Marc Freedman.
How long: Six months, January-June 2025.
Where, when and how: A hybrid program: On campus January 27-29 and June 23-25, 2025; online, asynchronous and self-directed the rest of the time.
Program pillars: Looking inward, looking outward and moving forward.
Cost: $25,000 including lodging and most meals during on-campus portions; 15% discount for people who work in the nonprofit sector or in government, Yale alumni and alums of some Yale Executive Education programs and groups of three-to-six participants.
Application deadline: November 8, 2024, but the priority deadline is August 2.
How Freedman explained the program: "It's aimed at people who have made significant contributions in midlife in a wide variety of ways, who are determined to use their experience . . . to achieve new impact and who are looking for an opportunity to reflect on their life and contribution so far and chart a new course in the company of others animated by similar aspirations."
