It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and Mike Davis and Anne Spence are sitting in a Northern Kentucky University classroom, ready to learn about finance.
The students are a little different than your typical NKU campus goer.
Davis is 81, and Spence is 62, and they are part of the Senior Workforce Program.
The program is a partnership between NKU and the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, also known as NKCAC, which gives adults 55-plus who are looking to start new careers the opportunity to take specially designed courses in accounting and finance.
“I enjoy education because you really should be learning to make yourself interesting until you get to the cemetery,” Davis said. “So that’s why I do it. I love interacting with people and discovering what they did for a living, where they live, how they retired, and why they retired.”
On the other hand, Spence did not see herself returning to education. It just kind of happened. Spence said she went to the unemployment office to start looking for a job and ended up meeting someone from NKCAC, who told her about the senior workforce program.
“It just was an opportunity that I thought I should try,” she said.
NKCAC Vice President of Community Development Rhonda Chisenhall said the program came to fruition after securing a federally funded grant from AmeriCorps Seniors in December 2023. Chisenhall said it’s a demonstration grant, which means it’s new and in a test period. She said there are only five or six of them across the country.
In addition to the age requirement, students must also be at 400% or lower of the federal poverty level.
In the students’ second semester, they are placed at either a nonprofit or government agency for on-the-job training, where they’ll receive a stipend for their hours in training.
The program is 18 months long. Upon completion, students receive a certification, and NKCAC works with them to help them gain employment in the finance industry. The certification, a micro-credential in finance, was created by NKU specifically for the senior workforce program.
“When we enrolled them for their first semester, one of the classes they were taking was actually a regular NKU class, where they were in the class with more traditional students, and that made them nervous,” Chisenhall said. “NKU was really good about working with us to find a classroom and an instructor that was willing to teach that class separately, just for them, so that it’s just their age group.”
Spence said her goal after completing the program is to get into payroll, as the program piqued her interest in that field. Before going back to school, Spence was a military spouse and worked in warehouses.
Davis said he would like to work at a government agency, law firm, or Fidelity Investments.
“I didn’t think I was going to be hired at 81 years old, necessarily, but I would like to have a part-time job, full-time job if it allows me to do so,” he said. “I have some disabilities walking around, as long as you can learn something useful to contribute to a company or an organization. I think that’s important for me and hopefully for them.”
Chisenhall said they are partnering with the Kenton County Library and its job training courses to increase students’ knowledge of email, Microsoft Word and Excel.
NKCAC also works with the students on interviewing skills, resume building and dressing for an interview.
Spence advised other adults looking to return to education who may have been out of a classroom for decades to be patient.
“I’ve had to read things more than twice, so I guess the only thing I can say is be patient,” she said. “Just because you don’t have it today doesn’t mean you won’t get it tomorrow.”
Davis said that even though most of the students on campus are “62 years younger” than he is, they are all nice, offer to hold doors for him, and are overall very welcoming.
“I just think the whole experience and meeting other people and maybe resetting some of your goals, as they always say, age is just a number,” Davis said. “I’m an older person. I’m still trying to learn things.”
