A Permanent Homecoming
College is often a respite of study and play for young people before entering the world of work, but college-flavored retirement communities are becoming an increasingly attractive place for their elders to settle when they stop working.
Some 50 colleges now have retirement communities on campus or nearby. "These are about the nicest form of socioeconomic activity that a college community can attract," says John Diffey, the president of KendalCorp., a nonprofit organization affiliated with 13 retirement communities near campuses such as Oberlin College, Denison University, and Ithaca College. "They don't add children to the school system" or increase demand for additional municipal services, Diffey says.
These communities do keep wealthy potential donors in close proximity to colleges. In addition to alumni, many residents are retired faculty and staff, the parents of current faculty and staff, or people who simply love the college way of life. "The baby boomers are the most educated group of seniors to come along," says William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer. "Among well-educated boomers, now entering their late 50s and early 60s, these college towns seem to be a coming attraction."
Game tickets. The draw of college communities is the combination of a small-town feel with extensive amenities. "It's a little more luxurious than the dorms," says Jeoffrey Stross, president of the board at University Commons, a retirement home affiliated with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. University Commons was built on land sold to the condominium association by the university, but the college still owns the 12 acres of land surrounding the building, which remains wooded. Students of traditional college age are often incorporated into life at the retirement community. Culinary students come and cook for University Commons residents two nights a week, nursing students are developing exercise programs with residents, and music students and faculty often perform. Many communities also feature access to the university library, tickets to sporting events, and on-site health- and long-term care.
But living in a college-affiliated retirement community doesn't come cheap. Entry fees for Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame range from $101,900 to $275,900, in addition to monthly service fees that are $1,595 and up for the first person and $795 for the second person. The entry fee is 90 percent refundable to heirs when the resident dies, or to the resident if he or she leaves the community and the apartment is resold. The apartments at Holy Cross Village are over 90 percent reserved.
It may be a small price to pay for another shot at campus fun. Residents of the Village at Penn State, for instance, join the homecoming parade every year. This year, as their bus blared "YMCA," they dressed up as-natch-the Village People.
This story appears in the November 6, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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