Senior Citizens

Senior Citizens are charged a $20 per credit administrative fee plus minimal fees to attend "for credit" courses.  Senior Citizens are also responsible for any additional materials or personal property charges. Senior Citizens who are auditing a course, on a space available basis, will be charged a maintenance fee and health services fee per credit and any applicable materials or personal property charges. 

See the applicable state statute below.

"Senior citizen" means a person who has reached 62 years of age before the beginning of any term, semester or quarter, in which a course of study is pursued, or a person receiving a railroad retirement annuity who has reached 60 years of age before the beginning of the term.

State Statute 135A.52 PROGRAM AND QUALIFICATIONS.

Subdivision 1. Fees and tuition. Except for an administration fee established by the governing board at a level to recover costs, to be collected only when a course is taken for credit, a senior citizen who is a legal resident of Minnesota is entitled without payment of tuition or activity fees to attend courses offered for credit, audit any courses offered for credit, or enroll
in any noncredit courses in any state supported institution of higher education in Minnesota when space is available after all tuition-paying students have been accommodated.

A senior citizen enrolled under this section must pay any materials, personal property, or service charges for the course. In addition, a senior citizen who is enrolled in a course for credit must pay an administrative fee in an amount established by the governing board of the institution to recover costs. There shall be no administrative fee charges to a senior citizen auditing a course.

For the purposes of this section and section 135A.51, the term "noncredit courses" shall not include those courses designed and offered specifically and exclusively for senior citizens. The provisions of this section and section 135A.51 do not apply to noncredit courses designed and offered by the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities specifically and exclusively for senior citizens.

Senior citizens enrolled under the provisions of this section and section 135A.51 shall not be included by such institutions in their computation of full-time equivalent students when requesting staff or appropriations.