The structure of HILR courses is similar to undergraduate sections, usually including 10-25 students, and class discussion is very informal. Conversations often move outside the classroom to lunch or dinner.

"There's a hell of a lot of collegiality around here, and it's just getting better. You have people whose whole lives revolve around this," Robinson says.

Students are encouraged to take only two classes, but they are allowed to take an unlimited number, and many take several courses while teaching one of their own as well. As part of their $155 tuition each semester, students can also take one free class at the Extension School or the Center for Lifelong Learning, an option which about 25 percent of the students choose.

In addition, there is an afternoon speakers series each year in which two HILR members and one outside visitor give lectures on a variety of subjects to supplement class work.

Space Problems

Although more and more colleges are offering learning in retirement programs, and there are several in the Boston area, Ishikawa says that one of HILR's biggest problems is that it can only admit 400 people to its program.

When the institute moves its offices from the basement of Lehman Hall to 51 Brattle Street within the next two years, however, enrollment will increase to about 500 students each term, according to Ishikawa. The program will not be able to accept more students after that point, he says.

"There is always the problem that more students want to do it than we can accept," says Ishikawa. "We do want to provide a sense of community and when you get too large, it's hard to do that."

Tyndall, who has been with HILR since its beginnings, says she already notices a difference in the social life within the program since it has grown to nearly four times its original size.

"When we started, we saw people outside the classes a lot, but as it gets bigger, it is more difficult to maintain social ties," Tyndall says: "People come from all around this area--some from great distances. Now there are smaller groups within the group who see each other socially."

Expanding Services

As the number of elderly people increases, and interest in programs such as HILR grows, learning in retirement programs are looking for new ways to expand the services they offer.

A national exchange network for retirement programs is one of many expansions which HILR directors and administrators are hoping to make in the next several years.

Last summer representatives from 32 different colleges and universities around the country which sponsor programs for retirement-age people or which are planning to start them came to Cambridge to visit HILR.

"[This visit] was the first attempt to set up a national network of learning in retirement programs," Ishikawa says. "Eventually we would like to start some sort of an exchange between the programs."