{"203571":{"#nid":"203571","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Prof Educates Seniors About Tuition Benefits","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn a chilly day in late January, Claudia R\u00e9bola led a group of 10 seniors on a walking tour of campus. But these weren\u2019t the high school seniors that you might expect to see.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey were senior citizens from the Toco Hills Naturally Occurring Retirement Community. (NORCs are communities where the majority of older adults have decided to remain in their homes as long as possible.) And they were here to learn more about attending Georgia Tech. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA law was passed in Georgia in 1977 that allows older adults to access a free college education \u2014 but it\u2019s not well known,\u201d said R\u00e9bola, an assistant professor in the School of Industrial Design and co-founder of the Design and Technologies for Healthy Aging initiative at Tech. \u201cMy goal is to change this.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to the University System of Georgia\u2019s (USG) Board of Regents Policy 4.2.1.5, Georgia residents age 62 and older may be eligible to enroll in any of the state\u2019s institutions tuition free. (Enrollment is limited by available space.)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut, according to numbers from Enrollment Services, out of 19,961 students who are enrolled for classes at Tech this spring, only 15 of them are age 62 or older. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs part of her research, which focuses on design for aging, R\u00e9bola has ongoing relationships with communities for older adults, including Toco Hills NORC. She regularly attends the community\u2019s lunch-and-learn events to present on topics of interest to the residents. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe know that older adults are eager to try new things, but they\u2019re very concerned about costs, given their limited income,\u201d R\u00e9bola said. \u201cSo I worked with the community to organize an activity where the residents could learn more about the tuition benefits and visit Georgia Tech.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe worked with the Office of Admissions to modify the typical campus tour for people with limited mobility to what she thought was a manageable 1.5 hours. The tour included campus highlights such as Clough Commons and the Student Center and ended at the Campus Recreation Center. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut about 50 minutes into our tour, I realized just how hilly this campus is and how hard it was for several of the tour participants to get around,\u201d R\u00e9bola said. \u201cSo I had to improvise.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe got the electric car that belongs to the College of Architecture and started to shuttle people. (Keeping walking to a minimum will be a priority with future tours.) But in spite of the last-minute change of plans, R\u00e9bola received positive feedback.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe group was really impressed by our facilities and was blown away by how things have changed since they were college-age,\u201d she said. \u201cAnother unintended benefit of the experience was that many of them also mentioned that they now wanted to bring their grandchildren to Tech to see how amazing the campus is.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd the community has already asked R\u00e9bola to coordinate additional tours in the future. Going forward, she hopes to work with the Office of Admissions to develop a more sustainable version of the tour that also includes lunch on campus with current students and faculty.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI want older adults to have a chance to interact with faculty and students and see that they really are welcome here,\u201d she added. \u201cOlder adults want to remain active and stay connected, and taking college classes is a great way to do this.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo become involved with future tours or to learn more about R\u00e9bola\u2019s work with aging adults, email her at \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:crw@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ecrw@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E. For more information about the USG\u2019s tuition\u0026nbsp;discounts for older adults, click \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/c.gatech.edu\/16rvW3n\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn a chilly day in late January, Claudia R\u00e9bola led a group of 10 seniors on a walking tour of campus. But these weren\u2019t the high school seniors that you might expect to see.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"On a chilly day in late January, Claudia R\u00e9bola led a group of 10 seniors on a walking tour of campus. But these weren\u2019t the high school seniors that you might expect to see."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2013-04-01 15:19:44","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:59","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"203521":{"id":"203521","type":"image","title":"Senior Tuition Benefits","body":null,"created":"1449179952","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:12","changed":"1475894859","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:39","alt":"Senior Tuition Benefits","file":{"fid":"196650","name":"rebola_story_ii.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/rebola_story_ii_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/rebola_story_ii_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4948026,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/rebola_story_ii_0.jpg?itok=cYz0orl0"}}},"media_ids":["203521"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/c.gatech.edu\/16rvW3n","title":"USG: Tuition Benefits for Older Adults"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"38071","name":"claudia rebola"},{"id":"14342","name":"older adults"},{"id":"167892","name":"Senior Citizens"},{"id":"63061","name":"tuition benefits"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}