For John, BLUF: I have mentioned this before, as I am sure you know. Nothing to see here; just move along.
This is a moveable feast. A Course Catalog comes out from UMass Lowell Continuing Education and I may or may not comment on the paucity of in classroom courses. The reason this matters is that for Seniors (60 or over) and for Veterans, you can take a course for $30 plus books. Regular students pay around a grand, plus books. I think this is a positive benefit in that courses in Continuing Education help keep the older minds more alive and working, and thus add to the health of Seniors.♠
Alas, with the growth of online education the number of in classroom courses has receded. Under the current interpretation of the law, online courses go for the full amount, even for Seniors and Veterans.♥ Below are the course groupings in the catalogue, the number of courses in each group and the number in the classroom (the column marked $30) and the percentage of in classroom courses. I have marked those areas where the percentage is 20% or less. There is an exception. I gave "Intercollegiate Arts and Sciences" a pass as there is only one course offered.
| Area | Number | $30 | Percent |
| Accounting | 8 | 4 | 50% |
| Art/Computer Graphics | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| Art History | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Biological Sciences | 8 | 1 | 13% |
| Chemistry | 13 | 9 | 69% |
| Computer Science | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| Criminal Justice | 21 | 4 | 19% |
| Econ | 15 | 3 | 20% |
| Electronic Engineering Technology | 15 | 12 | 80% |
| English | 30 | 2 | 7% |
| Entrepreneurship | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Finance | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| Gender Studies | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Health | 5 | 2 | 40% |
| History | 16 | 3 | 19% |
| Information Technology | 53 | 8 | 15% |
| Intercollegiate Arts and Sciences | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Languages | 13 | 0 | 0% |
| Legal Studies | 20 | 3 | 15% |
| Management | 7 | 3 | 43% |
| Marketing | 8 | 6 | 75% |
| Mathematics | 28 | 23 | 82% |
| Mechanical Engineering Technology | 13 | 9 | 69% |
| Operations and Information Systems | 5 | 2 | 40% |
| Philosophy | 8 | 1 | 13% |
| Physics | 3 | 1 | 33% |
| Plastics | 5 | 5 | 100% |
| Political Science | 12 | 2 | 17% |
| Psychology | 28 | 4 | 14% |
| Sociology | 12 | 5 | 42% |
| TOTALS | 375 | 118 | 31% |
Now I need to go and ask how many of us Seniors are enrolled this semester. Stand by.
Regards — Cliff
♠ I try to make this point to Senator Eileen Donoghue every time she is on City Life.
♥ Senator Donoghue says it is a "color of money" issue. That is to say, there are different accounts and they can't be mixed. On the other hand, Chancellor Marty Meehan has shown that he can do practically anything, but he doesn't seem to be able to fix this little problem.
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