HANCEVILLE – The Continuing Education department at Wallace State Community College is revamping its Lifelong Learning program for area residents ages 50 and over, offering a new membership plan that grants participants access to all of the programs and courses presented each semester. Rather than paying for each service or course, the members can have unlimited access to them all.
“We are calling this new program the Wallace State Lifelong Learning Institute, or WaLLi,” said Melinda Edwards, director of Institutional Outreach at Wallace State. “We wanted to provide area senior citizens more opportunities to participate in the popular Lifelong Learning courses we have offered for years. By offering a membership, they will avoid paying for individual courses each semester and instead pay one fee each semester or annually and have unlimited access to all we have to offer.”
The membership fee is $40 per person per semester (Fall, Spring and Summer) or $99 per year. The fee affords members unlimited access to the Wallace State gym, unlimited access to WaLLi courses, seminars from community partners, trips and social lunches (some limits or additional costs may apply), and a free WaLLi T-shirt.
Examples of Lifelong Learning classes include computer, genealogy, photography, cooking, dance, yoga, etc., which in the past would have required a $30 fee for each. The fee for seniors to use the gym in the past was $34 per semester.
“Already we’re able to save our senior citizens financially with the new WaLLi program if they choose to use the gym and take one of our classes,” Edwards said. “Instead of paying $64 for those services, they can instead pay just $40 for a semester and take even more classes, sit in on a seminar and take a day trip.”
An informational meeting about WaLLi will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 10, at 11:30 a.m., on the 12th floor of the James C. Bailey Center. A light lunch will be served. Registration will take place following lunch for those interested in membership.
For more information or to register contact Mandi Perkins at 256-352-7826 or mandi.perkins@wallacestate.edu. Visit www.wallacestate.edu/ce for more information about the Continuing Education program and www.wallacestate.edu for more information about Wallace State.
