As Arsenault and Anderson (1998) emphasize, "The needs, interests, and expectations of retiring baby boomers will be significantly different than those of their parents and grandparents. Future generations of elders will seek continued personal growth in their retirement years, and hence the demand for educational programs and services designed to meet the needs of older adults will intensify" (p. 27). The positive aspects of this recommendation include the fact that this segment of the American population is growing more rapidly than most others and as Arsenault and Anderson point out, "Older adult learners are in an envious position because many have the luxury of enrolling in educational courses purely for interest's sake. Lifelong learning interests will not fade because one retires. On the contrary, if individuals enjoyed attending classes, workshops, or training seminars their entire adult life, why would they stop in retirement?" (p. 27). Indeed, advances in genetic engineering and healthcare may mean that people will be living even longer in the future with much time on their hands for self-improvement: "The fact that many people today are retiring at age 55 and have the potential to live to be 100 has forced us to change the way we perceive retirement and rethink the types of learning that may enhance the quality of life for this large segment of the population" (p. 28).
A timeline for implementation for this initiative would begin today, because more and more baby boomers will begin to retire in 2008. According to Dohm (2000), "Of the 25 million people projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to leave the labor force between 1998 and 2008, 22 million will be aged 45 years or older and thus will be leaving mostly to retire. Over the 1998-2008 period, the oldest baby-boomers will be aged 52 to 62. After 2008, as more and more baby-boomers reach retirement age, the impact of their retirements...
17). A suggested implementation of this initiative would include promotion of specially designed interfaces with larger type sizes, for example, in various age-related publications published by organizations such as AARP.
Section 5. Post audit analysis plan.
Notwithstanding the growing market represented by the 45-year and over segment of the population, the predictions about their continuing interest in personal growth and development through education may not pan out. Therefore, the company must gauge its future performance based on existing benchmarks and determine if the return on investment in targeting this aging segment is worthwhile. If this is the case, the company should fulfill its existing contractual obligations to this segment and then discontinue active promotional activities in retirement-related publications as described above.
References
About Apollo Group. (2008). Apollo Group, Inc. [Online]. Available: http://www.apollogrp.edu/About.aspx.
Apollo Group profile. (2008). Yahoo! Finance. [Online]. Available: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=APOL.
Arsenault, N. & Anderson, G. (1998). New learning horizons for older adults. JOPERD -- the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 69(3), 27-28.
Dohm, a. (2000). Gauging the labor force effects of retiring baby-boomers. Monthly Labor Review, 123(7), 17.
Form 10-Q: Quarterly report -- Apollo Group, Inc. (2008, January 8). EDGAROnline. [Online]. Available: http://biz.yahoo.com/e/080108/apol10-q.html
History. (2008). Apollo Group, Inc. [Online]. Available: http://www.apollogrp.edu/History.aspx.
Morey, a. (2001). The growth of for-profit higher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 52(4), 300.
Vedder, R. (2005). Market-based education: What can…
