University of Minnesota designs program for older adults navigating life transitions. 

For Matt Parker of St. Paul, Minnesota, a one-two punch of big life changes motivated him to enroll in a class at the University of Minnesota’s new Midlife Academy. Parker, 55, worked as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 25 years before retiring in 2024 to start a security job in the private sector. He and his wife are also due to become empty nesters with their youngest child soon heading off to college. When he read a news article about the academy’s in-person pilot course, “Cultivating Purpose,” he felt the tug of trying something new.    

After his rewarding FBI career, Parker says he realized he needed to “find purpose and identity that did not come from my job.” His imminent status as an empty nester was similarly concerning: “I was hoping this course could help me navigate these changes in a healthy way without being too abstract or hippy-dippy.”  

Midlife Academy is a place of exploration — for those seeking career shifts, new interests, or pathways to a more meaningful life. Developed in the university’s College of Continuing and Professional Studies, the seven– to eight-week courses offer “tools to unlock the many opportunities that midlife brings.” And they are part of a trend in American higher education. The University of Minnesota joins a growing number of colleges and universities serving older adults, whose numbers are rising while the traditional 18- to 24-year-old undergraduate population reaches a “demographic cliff.” Between 2010 and 2021, total undergraduate enrollment in degree-granting institutions decreased by 15 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.    

“The University of Minnesota joins a growing number of colleges and universities serving older adults, whose numbers are rising while the traditional 18- to 24-year-old undergraduate population reaches a ‘demographic cliff.’”

The new crop of midlife programs has evolved since the concept was introduced more than a decade ago. Programs such as Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute and the University of Notre Dame’s Inspired Leadership Initiative are residential programs, often with a hefty tuition, that select highly accomplished, late-career professionals to come to campus for an academic year and find ways to transfer their skills to public or community service.  

Now public institutions including the University of Colorado Denver’s Change Makers and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities offer nonresidential programs focused on personal development. The noncredit Midlife Academy courses cost $1,200, offering a more affordable option for adults in the community. The University offers a 10 percent discount to alumni members. “As a public university, we serve the people of our state, and they’re not all 18- to 22-year-olds,” says Midlife Academy Director Kate Schaefers. She adds that people in their mid-40s through 60s are “a new demographic that universities should be looking at” as a way to diversify the campus.   

In her “Cultivating Purpose” course, University of Minnesota facilitator Megan Voorhees posed goals each week for the 25 students, such as identifying their core values, broadening social networks, overcoming self-sabotage and defining how to make an impact. The course is designed around research that finds living a purpose-driven life can increase healthy aging.     

At the end of the two-month course, Parker and other students agreed that the various methods worked and say they have clarity for solid next steps. Parker plans to start by talking to people he knows who are thriving as recent empty nesters or retirees. “You need to find purpose and identity that are separate from your career,” he says. “If you think of yourself only as a doctor or a lawyer or a special agent or a parent, you will have trouble adjusting when you are no longer those things.”   

Voorhees has been moved by her students’ enthusiasm for reinventing themselves and creating a “portfolio life,” which she describes as finding “multiple ways to live a life of purpose versus figuring out just one ‘Big P’ purpose.” One of Voorhees’ students, Cari Erickson, 47, considered getting a life coach or therapist and opted to enroll in the course, where she found herself grateful to learn from others. “I was curious about what other people would say and what they were going through and felt like that was incredibly valuable,” she says.     

As the population of older adults looking to chart a new life chapter for themselves continues to increase, so will the demand for programs like the Midlife Academy. “The course was broader than ‘cultivating purpose,’” Parker says. “It also touched on improving other aspects of your life. You don’t need to be in a transition period or crisis period to benefit from many of the lessons.”