Learning
Auditing Harvard Courses
Contact the Faculty of Arts & Sciences or other individual schools for information about auditing courses. Phone numbers are listed in the directory at the end of this booklet.
Center for Workplace Development (CWD)
CWD offers a wide range of courses, including personal development, computers (word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and desktop publishing), and the use of social media. Retirees are invited on a space-available basis. View a complete list of programs and services on their website. https://hr.harvard.edu under Learning and Development
Registration for all CWD courses is available through PeopleSoft Self Service under Learning and Development / Request Training Enrollment. Personal checks are accepted for registrations, but a seat in the class is not guaranteed until the check is received.
124 Mt. Auburn Street, 3rd floor, Cambridge - 617-495-4895 training@harvard.edu
Continuing Education
The Division of Continuing Education and the Harvard Extension School offer part-time study in the evenings or online on an open-enrollment basis for more than 940 courses. Its dynamic and challenging environment annually attracts more than 12,000 students of all ages from every New England state. They come from all walks of life and academic backgrounds, holding a variety of degrees, from associate to doctorate, or no degrees at all.
The Extension School’s Distance Education program offers a way to take courses from home. Many courses are offered both on campus and online, and some are online only. For more information, click on Course Catalog on their website.
While registered for courses, students may have access to more than 3,000 databases and e-journals through the Harvard Library’s HOLLIS system. These are not otherwise available to retirees.
51 Brattle St., Cambridge, 617-495-4024 - http://www.extension.harvard.edu/
The Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP) is available for both on-site and distance education programs. (See below.)
EdX offers free online courses from the world’s best universities. It was created and is based at Harvard and MIT for students who seek to transform themselves through cutting-edge technologies, innovative pedagogy, and rigorous courses. Institutional partners around the world present the best of higher education online, offering opportunity to anyone who wants to achieve, thrive, and grow. Consult the catalog of free online courses.
Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement (HILR)
HILR is a non-credit, non-degree program for retirees. The Division of Continuing Education established the Institute to recognize the importance of cultivating the great store of accumulated knowledge among the community of older adults and to provide opportunities for continued educational growth.
Call for a membership application and schedules. Criteria for admission are generally based on an applicant’s education, avocation, or career background. But the Institute does seek candidates who are likely to consider HILR a major commitment of their time and energy, who enjoy and contribute actively to class discussion, and who show willingness to become study group leaders or to serve on one of the program’s many committees.
34 Concord Ave., Cambridge - 617-495-4072 - http://hilr.dce.harvard.edu/
Harvard Summer School
Adults may take courses in Summer School. More than 300 courses are taught by Harvard professors and visiting scholars during the day, evening, and online. TAP is accepted.
51 Brattle St., Cambridge - 617-495-4024 - https://www.summer.harvard.edu/
Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP)
Retirees may use TAP for up to eight credits per term at participating Harvard schools or for two courses per term at Harvard Extension or the Summer School. Note that TAP benefits for graduate-credit courses may be taxable; please visit the HARVie TAP page for more information.
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/ - https://www.summer.harvard.edu/
The TAP fee is $40 at the Harvard Extension School and at Summer School, $40 per course, or $80 for an 8-credit course. At other participating Harvard schools, the fee is usually 10% of tuition.
TAP may be used for both on-site and distance Harvard Continuing Education programs.
TAP is not available to spouses or for courses outside the University. The TRP (tuition reimbursement program) is not available to retirees.
More details may be obtained in the TAP booklet, which contains specific school-by-school information. http://hr.harvard.edu/files/humanresources/files/tap_booklet.pdf
HHR Benefits Office - 617-496-4001, https://hr.harvard.edu/tuition-assistance
Also popular with Harvard retirees is the nearby OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute at Tufts: http://ase.tufts.edu/lli