$1 Million endowment for Creighton

A tough economy has compelled plenty of older adults to return to college — and Creighton University has $1 million more to serve them.

Creighton is the recipient of a $1 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation in San Francisco. Creighton will use at least $50,000 a year from that source to provide scholarships for 20 older students who return to college to earn undergraduate degrees.

More older adults are enrolling at Creighton and elsewhere. Some have been laid off. Others fear they will be. Some want to be more competitive job-seekers, move up in their companies or find greater security in their jobs.

Bellevue University, Metropolitan Community College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln experienced increases in numbers of older adults from fall 2006 to fall 2008.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha's bachelor of general studies program, for students 21 and older, reported a 5 percent increase from 2006 to 2008. And enrollment in Creighton's University College, for students who are older than 23 and seek undergraduate degrees, increased 10 percent to 352 last fall over 2006.

Creighton had received $50,000 grants from the Osher Foundation over the past two years. The university proved during that period that it gave solid support to older students re-entering college, said the foundation's David Blazevich.

Blazevich said the foundation liked Creighton's one-stop concept in admissions, academic advising, financial aid counseling and other services for older students.

Dr. Barbara Braden, dean of Creighton's University College, said the sour economy has played a big role in driving up her enrollment. University College students receive discounted tuition for enrolling in evening courses or in the accelerated program, in which a working adult can obtain a bachelor's degree in four years or less.

Jennifer Determan, 31, received $5,000 Osher scholarships for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years at Creighton.

“Returning to college was always on my mind. I just didn't know how or when I would be able to,” said Determan, who works full time with clients of the Douglas County Housing Authority. “This scholarship's been tremendously helpful to me.”

Determan, who is studying organizational communication, hopes ultimately to become an executive director of a housing authority or work for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

She previously attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, but either wasn't focused on school or didn't fit in, she said. Now she's locked in and succeeding.

If she has questions about parking, financial aid or other matters, she e-mails administrators at University College and gets prompt responses, she said.

That doesn't mean school is easy. It can be grueling. Some nights she doesn't get home until 10:30. She follows a strict schedule with her husband for completing household chores and making meals.

“I had to get super-organized,” she said. She expects to graduate in May.

The Creighton money is the sole Osher endowment given to a Nebraska or Iowa school for re-entry into college. The Osher Foundation, which funds higher education and the arts, also provides lifelong learning grants for noncredit programs for people 50 years of age and older.

UNL received a $1 million Osher endowment last year for its lifelong learning programs. The programs include noncredit courses in music, writing, science, movies, art and other topics. Students aren't graded and take courses for the love of learning.

Blazevich said Iowa State University and the University of Iowa each has a $100,000 grant for their lifelong learning programs.

Contact the writer:

444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com

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