Welcome to Old Dominion University home of the Monarchs.
I'm on the campus of Old Dominion University and the reason I'm here is because I am a college
student. Yes I'm probably one of the oldest college students here, but I don't care, because I don't pay
hardly anything for my college classes. In fact I don't pay any tuition. The only thing I pay
are lab fees or technology fees, that they have for each course.
And this semester I'm taking Intro to Digital Photography and also Documentary Production
in the film department. These classes are great fun and I figured they're going to help me out with my
youtube channel, and photography will be a great hobby for me. Now you might ask yourself how does
someone take college classes for free. Well it's simple. The only requirement is you have to be 60
years old and a resident of the state of Virginia. Both of these things are not a problem for me.
Now to register for classes, you simply have to fill out a form, and to deliver to the registrar's
office. But there is a trick to this process. You cannot take a class until the last day
of signing up for class, in other words I have to wait until the first day of classes to sign up
for a class, because the university wants to ensure that all the paying students get the classes first.
And since I don't pay, I can only take a class if there is space available in the class. Every
state in the country has a similar program, but the age requirements vary from state to state.
Some states it's as little as age 55. Some states require you to be 65 years old. And because you can
only take a class on a space available basis, there have been several classes that I have
wanted to take, but could not take. In fact the Digital Photography class that I'm taking now.
It took me two years to get into this class, because space was not available in the class.
Just so happens, this semester I was able to get in, and it's been a great class, and I've had a lot of
fun. My intro to Digital Photography class meets in the Hixson Art Studio building on the second floor
in the Photography Computer Lab. Now one of the rules here is, if you go to class you have
to wear a mask. That's their covid prevention idea. This is my intro to Digital Photography class
and the reason they have a technology fee is all of these nice computers sitting on the
desks. Here we're coming up to Goode Theater. This is where I'm taking my Documentary Production class,
and here we come to the sound stage, and this is where my Documentary Production class
takes place. As you walk around you can see the size of this place
and all that equipment is why there's a 25
equipment fee.
I've always wanted to do a scene in a green screen. So now I can put anything I want
behind me. That would be really cool. I think maybe I'll try it. What do you think of this,
or maybe this, and how about this? In some ways I would say I'm living the college student dream.
I take classes and I can't fail. So you just go in for the information you learn and you pass.
Well you don't really pass, but you can't fail. Because you audit the course, you're only there
for the information, not for a grade and not to get credit for a college course,
which is why most of the other students are here, because they're seeking a degree. But for me there
are a lot of college classes that have very useful information, that I can use in my everyday life.
The first class I took at Old Dominion University tuition free was Introduction to Filmmaking, which
also met in the Goode Theater. The next two courses I took were Digital Basics in the Art Department
which was taught in the Berry Arts Building. The other class was Museums and Museumology,
taught in the History Department in the Batton Liberal Arts Building. The next semester I took
Historical Methods in the History Department, and this class was in the Education Building.
Another good thing about being over 60 and taking classes at Old Dominion University
is that they have free parking for you. But don't tell the other students, because they have to
pay for their parking. Just another benefit of getting older. At least there are some for it.
To find out which classes you can take at Old Dominion University, first you must go to odu.edu.
Then once you get on the website you click on My ODU.
This will bring up a large menu and from this menu you want to go to Academics,
and then scroll over to Course Search, and click on Course Search. This will bring up this screen. Then
you use the drop down menu to pick the semester that you want to attend school. Then you go to
the subject and you drop that down. So let's say I want to take another Art class. Because I just took
Intro to Digital Photography this semester, so I want to take Photography 2. So I go to
Art Studio Arts and click the toggle switch. Then I go over to the search button and click search.
This will bring up the class listings that you can go through and you scroll down the page and look
for the class that you want. See here's Intro to Digital Photography here in the spring semester,
but I'm looking for Photography 2. So I'll click the next page,
and I still don't see it on this page. So I scroll forward again
and there it is photography 2. I expand it out using this button,
and one thing you have to check at this time, it is now the last day in November.
So students can sign up for class all the way up to the beginning of class, so as a student over 60
taking a course for free, you have to wait until the class begins. This class will begin on January
8th 2022. There are currently six openings in the class of 12, but that could change from now to then.
You can see this is three semester hours, but if you're like me, you'll be auditing the course,
and you won't get any credit. So the amount of semester hours doesn't make any difference to us.
Now you can see it meets on Monday, Wednesday from 9 to 11:50. So that's good for my schedule.
Now if you take the course, you can't get the book for free.
So you can check on how much the book is going to cost by clicking
this button, which is the bookstore. And it's going to come up, and tell us if there's a book.
And so far this book has not been determined for this class, so I don't know how much the book
will cost, If I want to take the class now. Also the Photography Introduction Digital Photography class that
I took had a sixty dollar fee for technology, and you see here no fee information is available yet.
So if there is a technology fee, even though you get free tuition for this class you still have
to pay the technology fee for the class, and for Photography the first Photography class Intro
to Digital Photography that fee was 60 dollars. So now that you've figured out how to find the class,
say you want to come back and look for it later.
Well just remember what the course number is and you can limit your search
to only one class. If you like and we search again and it's only photography 2 here.
Now when it's time to register for class on January 8th you will have to fill out a form.
Here is the forum you need to fill out. As you can see it only requires basic information, and
then the courses that you want to take, and when they meet and the instructor's name.
Fairly simple. To go to tidewater community college to take classes, which is the local
community college near me. I would go to tcc.edu. Oonce on this website you would go to this top line
and click on students. Once you are in the students web page, you go down to class search.
Click on class search and it's going to bring up another tab on your computer.
This is a different kind of system than what we saw at Old Dominion University, and this system
also it covers other community colleges around the state of Virginia. Now you notice it
says 2021 fall. What we want to do is change the term, and we want to check out Spring of 2022.
Now they have a subject drop down menu which you can search through to find your class.
But say you're not sure what department a subject is in. So you can search their
system. I'm going to put in photo p-h-o-t-o and click the search button, and it brings up
the different classes that are available. so let's say i want to take intro to digital photography
at tidewater community college, just to see if it's different than what it was at Old Dominion.
Now here is a class that meets from the 10th of January until the 2nd of May on Tuesday and
Thursday from 3:30 to 5:55. That class fits well in my schedule, so I'm going to click on the class.
Now this gives me information about the class. Once again tells me when it meets. It tells me
who the instructor is, and the class beginning and end date, and how many credits the class is.
But I want to check the availability, so I'll click on availability, and this tells us that this class
is open right now, that six students have enrolled but there's only room for 11
in the class. So this course might be a good one to take in the spring. Go back to details.
Now we can get a course description by clicking on that, and that will tell us more about the class.
Also if we want to check to see what the textbook is we can check on textbooks, and right now no
bookstore information is available for this class. So we just click ok. You can check this again when
it gets closer to the time that school starts. Now the difference between Tidewater Community College
and Old Dominion University is Tidewater Community College actually makes you apply for the
college, before you can take classes, but you can do this online, it only takes a few minutes.
Then once you've enrolled. Then you have to go down to the
college and get a form similar to the one that Old Dominion University has.
Another difference is Tidewater Community College will allow you to register for classes
two or three days before classes start, which is very convenient because then you do not have to
worry about missing the first day of class, which can happen at Old Dominion University.
Well that sums up how to find out about classes at Tidewater Community College.
Now depending on where you live, you would like to check out the colleges near you,
and the universities near you, and they will all have different registration
requirements, and procedures. And I cannot tell you what they are in other states.
Now if a college is a private college or university, you will not be able to get
free tuition at a private school, it has to be a school that is state supported.