Gone are the days of settling for a boring, uninspiring senior community after retirement. Instead of just looking for stuff to occupy your time, wouldn’t it be better to live purposefully?
The concept of retiring on a college campus is the new answer, and university-based retirement communities have been on the rise over the last decade or so.
Going Back to College for Retirement
There is a wide spectrum of senior living communities out there, but university-based senior living communities promise to be different. It’s exactly what it sounds like: retirement-age living communities on college campuses.
The idea is not exactly new. However, we can point to Andrew Carle, a Georgetown University professor and former senior living executive, for essentially defining a new category of senior housing. He first coined the term “university-based retirement community,” or UBRC, more than a decade ago.
For many, the idea of retirement is to enjoy life – it’s not to simply watch time go by while you play another round of bingo. That’s why more and more, seniors are looking for a retirement that is rich with fulfillment.
The Perks for Senior Residents
Building a retirement community on or next to a college campus means that residents can enjoy more than the standard (and frankly, sometimes worn-out) amenities and activities provided at a traditional senior living community. Residents in a university-based community have access to classes, performances, galleries, research projects, fitness centers, sporting events, and more. Seniors can even become mentors for university students. It’s a way to live with purpose, to continue learning, experience arts and culture, and still find ways to contribute to society.
Some university-supported senior communities are located on campus, while others involve living quarters that are next to the school. Some UBRCs even involve a university partnering with an existing retirement community within close proximity, from which residents can use shuttle services to get to campus.
Like traditional facilities, many of these university-based communities offer a mix of independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing care, and memory support. And while they’re on a similar pricing model as those traditional facilities, they obviously offer a lot of amenities that traditional facilities can’t.
It is likely that these types of communities will be mainstream within the next decade or two. Currently, there are UBRCs scattered through nearly thirty states across the U.S. You can see a list of these university-based communities here.
