City: Santa Barbara, CA

Category: Retirement

Description: The Continuing Education Division of Santa Barbara City College, aka Adult Ed, offers an incredible range of noncredit and community service classes. During fall, winter, spring, and summer sessions, classes meet weekday mornings, afternoons, and evenings as well as Saturday. More than 12,000 people enroll in adult ed classes every year. Most classes take place at the Alice F. Schott Center, others at the Selmer O. Wake Center, in addition to more than 100 locations in the greater Santa Barbara area. Many classes are free, with minimal fees for materials. This could change with the state budget cuts, however, and the notion of charging put the town in an uproar that unseated the longtime SBCC board of trustees and replaced them with a new board in 2011. Many of the classes are specially designed for seniors. Subjects include the arts, business, finance, real estate, job training, computers, cooking and wine, crafts, current events and world affairs, literature, writing, home and garden, humanities, languages, music, and photography. The Omega Program (www.sbcc.edu/omega.htm), developed especially for seniors, offers classes and workshops related to the subject of aging. The Omega Program fosters self-­esteem and dignity and helps seniors develop an appreciation of their past roles.