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Key Takeaways
- University retirement communities (URCs) give retirees the chance to live on or close to college campuses, offering opportunities for learning, social engagement, and intergenerational interaction.
- Most URCs are informally connected to nearby colleges, though a few are purposefully designed to fully integrate campus life into retirement living.
- The cost of living in a URC can be steep—some charge entrance fees exceeding $1 million—making them inaccessible for many.
Leaving the workforce and retiring doesn’t have to mean the end of learning. Some retirees are going back to college by living in university retirement communities, or URCs, which are retirement communities located on or near college campuses.
Andrew Carle—an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University and the creator of a database of URCs known as universityretirementcommunities.com—believes that college campuses may be an ideal environment for retiring Baby Boomers who want to stay engaged with a community.
“If you look at the Boomers and all the studies done on them, they want three things in their retirement: they want [to be] active, they want intellectual stimulation and really important, they want intergenerational retirement environments,” Carle said. “Well, I just described a college campus. So it’s a natural fit for exactly what they’re seeking.”
How Do URCs Actually Work?
URCs vary in the level of integration they have with their neighboring college campus. For example, the Mirabella at Arizona State University allows residents to audit classes at Arizona State, attend lectures, and go to free sports games.
Carle notes that only a small fraction of the URCs he tracks actually have a formal relationship with the universities they’re associated with.
“If you looked at the 85 or 90 [URCs] that are on the website, the vast majority were kind of organically developed. They happen to be a senior living community near a university, and over time, they develop some connections and affiliations, but nothing formal,” Carle said. “Only a handful are what I call intentionally built URCs … that are really the most highly integrated with the university—so programmatically, operationally, culturally.”
URCs are considered a type of continuing care community (CCRC) where residents pay a hefty upfront entrance fee, which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, and then a monthly fee after that.
Important
Sometimes, some or all of the entrance fee may be refunded back when the contract ends.
At CCRCs, almost everything is taken care of, from dining to entertainment to healthcare. Depending on the type of CCRC, they may offer memory care and assisted living, as well.
While retirees may benefit from community living, which can make it easier to develop and maintain social connections, the costs of URCs can be prohibitive, so it may not be an option for everyone.
For example, Vi at Palo Alto, a URC located near Stanford University, offers one bedroom apartments with entrance fees starting at more than $1.3 million and monthly fees topping $6,200. There are a range of other floor plans, as well.
“When we retire, we want to stay engaged,” Carle said.
