A generation that specialized in breaking the rules is doing it again, proving it’s never too cool for school. In fall of 2007, nearly 2 million baby boomers—some 60 percent of them women—headed to college, many for the first time.

Like older students in past generations, the majority enrolled purely for intellectual enrichment, says Brian Pusser, Ph.D., coauthor of a University of Virginia study on this topic. But an ever-increasing number are there to get the credentials they need to change careers.

“The demands of a knowledge economy and globalization increasingly require workers to have college degrees,” Dr. Pusser observes. Indeed, job change is a hallmark of baby boomers: In an AARP survey, 26 percent of respondents 42 and above had begun new careers in the previous year.

“Many worked in fields that are no longer viable and lack the technical skills that newer industries require,” says Norma Kent, a spokeswomen for the American Association of Community Colleges. “They’re pursuing higher education to get the retraining they need to continue working. They realize Social Security won’t be enough.” -- Lauren Strupp