Ever promised yourself that youd go back to college someday?


If youre a senior citizen here, you can take classes at most of the colleges and universities in the region for tuition rates that are well below those paid by younger studentsand often you can go nearly for free.


In many cases, the classes are offered only on a personal enrichment basis, meaning you cant receive college credit.


If its learning youre after, thoughor even a way to stay active and be around other peoplethese deals cant be beat.


The state of Washington, like many states, offers on a space-available basis a tuition-waiver program for seniors at all state-funded colleges and universities.


At Washington State University at Spokane, for example, any state resident aged 60 or older can pay a $5 registration fee and enroll in a class, says Joan Menzies, director of student services. There are some restrictionsthe course cant be used to boost ones credentials or salary, or count toward a degree.


Still, The intent is to allow seniors to participate in personal enrichment kinds of activities, theoretically at no additional cost to the institution, Menzies says.


Only a few seniors take advantage of the program each year here, probably because of the specialized nature of many of our programs, she says. Many of WSU-Spokanes course offerings allow students to fulfill the final requirements of an undergraduate degree or are in graduate programs and require specialized knowledge on the part of the student, she says.


Anecdotally, it seems to me when I worked in Pullman, the humanities courses were more popular for those interested in taking advantage of the waiver, Menzies says.


A lack of publicity keeps enrollment low in other senior-education programs here, spokespeople say.


At Eastern Washington University, for example, fewer than a dozen senior citizens each quarter take advantage of the schools senior-tuition-waiver program, says spokeswoman Stefanie Pettit.


We dont actively advertise it, Pettit says.


A similar program at Whitworth College, a private institution here, gives seniors who are 65 or older the opportunity to take one class per semester for $105 per credita big savings over the part-time tuition of $825 per credit. Even at the lower price, however, its not been a major program, says Whitworth Registrar Gary Whisenand.


Erna Rhinehart, spokeswoman for North Idaho College, in Coeur dAlene, says she intends to begin marketing more aggressively the schools gold card program for seniors, which gives Kootenai County residents aged 60 or older a tuition discount of 50 percent per credit hour. About 20 seniors are enrolled under that program this quarter, she says.


Were hoping to get the word out, Rhinehart says.


Community Colleges of Spokane, in contrast, does promote its two senior-education programs, with the result that one of the two very well could be the largest such program in the state.


That program, offered through the colleges Institute for Extended Learning (IEL), enrolled about 6,700 students aged 55 or older last year, says Pat Freeman, IELs manager of senior programs. IEL is the community-education arm of Community Colleges of Spokane, which also operates Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College.


In the IEL program, class fees range from a few dollars for a one-time, two-hour class, to about $50 for a four-session, three-hour class on using the PhotoShop software program. Scholarships are available to cover half the tuition.


In the second program for seniors at the community colleges, the state-mandated tuition-waiver program, nearly 80 people aged 60 or older took part last fall and this winter, the most recent period for which figures are available. Those folks paid $2.50 per class, plus a $5 registration fee, to take courses for which they can receive college credit, Freeman says.


Freeman believes the two programs are popular with seniors because they provide intellectual stimulation as well as a social outlet.


The education obviously is what were working at, but the fact of the matter is that these people care so much for one another. If people miss a class, other people call them to see what happened, she says.


In general, fitness classes and computer classes are the most popular offerings for seniors, whether theyre through the tuition-waiver program or the IEL program, Freeman says.


Other classes offered in the fall quarter this year through IEL include quilting, a writers workshop, German and Spanish language, an examination of constitutional history, and a study of the texts of the Indian Upanishads. Theres also pretty much every kind of exercise you can think of, like clogging, line dancing, water exercise, and low-impact aerobics, Freeman says.


All told, IELs seniors program offers about 175 classes each quarter in 32 locations, she says.


Freeman says the program draws a wide variety of students, including those who didnt finish high school or even grade school, all the way through retired professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.


Sometimes, she says, people who never got an opportunity to obtain a college degree start taking classes through IELs program, then move on to the tuition-waiver program at the community colleges to begin accumulating college credits toward a degree.


Our goal is to have excellent classes that are not just appealing but also challenging, so that seniors can stay mentally and physically active and develop their creativity and interests, she says.


For instance, for some time her late husband had been working on a story about his 20 years in the U.S. Navy, but had developed writers block, Freeman says. She signed him up for a creative-writing class through IEL, and he loved that class, she says. Those were his friends. They were stricken when he died in May.


We see the effect in seniors lives, she adds. In my own case, it turned my husbands life around.