continuing education

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

i've already graduated and am a working professional, but am considering taking a class "for fun" next semester. basically because i would have liked to take a bunch of things i never got to in college.

i am looking into tufts, but was wondering if people had other suggestions. e.g. i'm not familiar with community colleges in the area. it would need to be someplace easily accessible by public transport from davis, had night classes, and was reasonably priced (like, i will look into harvard extension but i think their classes run $1-2k?) the type of classes i'm interested in would most likely be in an arts & sciences department (hist, anthro, soc, public policy, gender studies, etc).

i appreciate your ideas!

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

If you're a Somerville or Medford resident, you can audit a course at Tufts for only $100.
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/ed-community.html

Here's a course list (https://webcenter.studentservices.tufts.edu/coursedesc/course_desc_by_dept.aspx) but I'm not sure which of them are eligible for the audit program.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

thanks! yes, that's a great program and i have actually auditted one a year ago. i may do it again, but would like to see what other options there are (i'm particularly curious about community colleges). also, i think i'd rather take something for credit this time, b/c i ended up not taking the class seriously when i was just auditting.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Bunker Hill charges $400 per class, I think, for credit. But they're much less convenient to get to. I was going to suggest Tufts, as well.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

yeah, i've heard good things about bunker hill, but i was wondering about an easy way to get there.

i just called tufts and it's almost $3 for a class!!

[ron_newman]

Bunker Hill is easy to get to, it's right on the Orange Line. Has its own stop, in fact.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

yeah, but coming from davis, i'd have to take the red line into boston, then transfer to the orange line going out. i'll think about it, but i was hpoing for something that's more in the 20 minute commute range.

do you know if there are buses or something that might be faster? or closer community colleges? (although mileage-wise, i guess this one is pretty close already).

[ron_newman]

there are buses from various parts of Somerville to Sullivan Square, but you'd still have to take the Orange Line one stop.

Other buses go to Lechmere, and you could walk to Bunker Hill Community College from there, but it's not an especially pleasant walk over the Gilmore Bridge.

The only other community colleges I know of are in Bedford and Roxbury, both much further away than Bunker Hill.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

ok, thanks. i might consider that but i'll look at harvard extension and tufts to.

does anyone know if lesley college offers something similar?

[beckmann.livejournal.com]

Lesley will not let you audit but they do have seminars. You can check them out at:

http://www.lesley.edu/ce/ls/index.html

They can be a little pricey, so it might not be your best option.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

thanks. i tried to call lesley and they were very confusing. but i think what i found out was that you can take 6 graduate credits without enrolling, and they also have continuing education courses- not sure what these are but they are sending me the catalogue. we'll see!

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, both the 89 and 90 busses run from Somerville to Sullivan Square.

To get to Lechmere you are looking at the 87 and 88, but I agree it is not the most fun walk.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

er... i meant $3k! which is more than havard extension i believe. i didn't expect that.

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

Take a look at Harvard Extension: I understand it's quite affordable, and hey, it's Harvard.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Harvard Extension is often a lot cheaper if you take the courses noncredit, which might be a good option if you're just looking for fun. I've had some good experiences there.

[ron_newman]

I've taken two classes at Harvard Extension, but they were the same price whether credit or non-credit. Maybe it differs from class to class.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Current costs on history courses at Harvard Extension are: noncredit $350, undergraduate credit $575, graduate credit $1,500. As I recall from a few years back when I was taking history & con. law courses, the prices haven't changed much.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it varies. From what I've seen, tech courses there are generally the same price if they're even offered noncredit. I've taken a number of liberal arts classes there, all which were significantly cheaper noncredit, but not all the liberal arts classes have the discount. The web site lists the various prices.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

is that similar to auditting a course?

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, pretty much. You show up but don't get graded.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

I teach at the Extension School and the offical deal is that auditing students don't get their work reviewed. I never bother about that and review everyone but I'm not sure how other faculty handle it.

One thing I always say to auditing students: you are paying the same price and if you plan to do the work/keep up with the class, then take it for credit. If you ever, *ever* plan to go to grad school, you can transfer those grad credits (the limit varies by program). Since you are paying for them anyway (and they don't take up much storage space...;-) get credits when and where you can.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

yeah...i have that same sense too. i'm not planning to go to grad school, but you never know, so i would prefer to take something for credit. however, i'm questioning that now that i see it could be a big difference in $$. e.g. at tufts it's $100 vs. $3k. maybe at harvard it wouldn't be such a big difference though.

[rifmeister.livejournal.com]

I've taken language classes (Japanese and Spanish) at Harvard Extension, not for credit. In all cases the teachers have reviewed my work, and in all cases the teaching and the quality of the class were excellent.

My wife took several computer science clases, and those were very much a mixed bag in terms of quality. Some were quite good, but in some cases the professors were unprepared and the assignments were not very well thought out.