Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)
The Division of Academic Outreach at Coastal Carolina University provides the best in adult education throughout the Grand Strand, Conway and Waccamaw Neck areas. OLLI, housed in the Division of Academic Outreach at Coastal Carolina University, seeks to provide opportunities for older adult, noncredit students to achieve intellectual stimulation, as well as cultural and social growth, while fostering a close, lasting and mutually beneficial relationship between the students and the University. Lifelong Learning courses are designed to meet the needs and interests of older adults in these communities and are offered during day and evening hours at three convenient locations.
Membership
OLLI is a membership organization. The membership fee is $20 per semester (fall and spring). This fee is required whether you are signing up for a one-day workshop, multiple courses or a special interest group. A number of benefits are associated with the OLLI membership. These include:
- Photo ID
- CCU parking decal
- Weekly OLLI eNewsletter
- Selected OLLI-sponsored free lectures
- CCU library card and on-campus library use
- CCU Bookstore discount
- A.B.L.E. (A Better Lifestyles Experience) year-round exercise program at the CCU Recreation Center
- OLLI discount to the Hackler Golf Course at Coastal Carolina University
- Discounted membership with select YMCA branches in Myrtle Beach and Georgetown
- Discounted membership fees/dues with Fitness-Edge branches in Murrells Inlet and Carolina Forest
- Discounts at HealthPoint Center for Health & Fitness in Litchfield
- Group travel opportunities
- Belle W. Baruch Foundation's Hobcaw Barony during the semester, specific events and programs will be offered to OLLI members with current ID cards at a special rate.
- Discount admission to:
- Most CCU-produced cultural events
- Atlantic Stage performances
- Long Bay Symphony performances
- Murrells Inlet Community Theatre performances
- Theatre of the Republic performances
- Georgetown County Museum
- Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum discount on exhibition opening receptions.
- Brookgreen Garden
Alumni
Members in good standing of the CCU Alumni Association are welcome to participate in OLLI clubs and events. Registration is required.
ABOUT OLLI
The Bernard Osher Foundation, a San Francisco-based philanthropic organization dedicated to supporting higher education and the arts, has provided funding to institutions of higher education to develop and grow noncredit, intellectually stimulating programs for older adults since the fall of 2002. Through its Osher Lifelong Learning Institute grant program, the Osher Foundation awards annual grants of $100,000 to university and college campuses with the understanding that, once a lifelong learning institute is established with annual support and demonstrates potential for long-term success, the foundation considers an endowment gift of no less than $1 million. At present, the Osher Foundation supports 122 OLLIs on university and college campuses in 49 states, as well as a National Resource Center for the institutes at the University of Southern Maine.
In the fall of 2007, Coastal Carolina University's Division of Academic Outreach was awarded its first $100,000 grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation. Upon receipt of the grant, our 20-year-old adult education program was renamed the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Coastal Carolina University (OLLI at Coastal) and rededicated to providing quality learning and networking opportunities to the large and growing older adult population along the Grand Strand. In June 2009, we received our second grant, and in June 2011, the third annual support grant was awarded. These grants are devoted to marketing and publicizing the OLLI program with the intended results of increasing enrollment and membership.
