Free CNC Instruction for Seniors

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rog/tn
Posts: 75
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:16 am
Location: Oak Ridge, TN

Free CNC Instruction for Seniors

Post by rog/tn »

In the State of Tennessee, folks age 60 and older can attend any state school for free... no tuition... no fees. One can audit classes at age 60 and recieve credit at age 65.
This applies to Universities, Technical schools, and Vo-Tech schools.
I am a retired engineer and have taken advantage of this.... taken several CNC courses. This includes... basic G-Code, FeatureCam, and MasterCam. The CNC labs typically have reasonally current CNC machining centers and turning centers... Haas, Fadal, ect... After completing these courses you can sign up for a "Special Projects" course (typically 3-5credit hours, unlimited lab time) and work on special projects of your choice. All course can be repeated (many times)
In addition these schools have fairly good machine shops with most of the basic manual machines (the kids abuse the machines, but they are still good for learnin).
If you know of other states with similar policies, pls reply to this post.
rog/tn
Rich_Carlstedt
Posts: 1754
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2002 12:16 am
Location: Green Bay Wisconsin USA
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Re: Free CNC Instruction for Seniors

Post by Rich_Carlstedt »

Its almost the same in Wisconsin.
If you are 62 or older, you can sign up as a "Audit Student" and only pay for fees, not tution. I did a MasterCam class that has a 375 dollar cost, for only 60 bucks.
Two things supercede the registration however, the class you want must have a vacant seat, and the instructor must agree to it.
In our area, it poses no problem to get past this most of the time.
Even though I was not required to take the quizzes, I did, so that I knew what was sinking in (learning).
It's a great way to learn new things, evn thou you have been sent out to pasture !
DonGreife
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 2:48 pm

Re: Free CNC Instruction for Seniors

Post by DonGreife »

I envy both of you guys for living near to these schools and being able to take advantage of the oppertunities. The closest trade school to me is about 40 miles and doesn't offer seniors a break on tuition. So, I buy books and programs that are cheap on Ebay and read a lot. Probably will never CNC any of my machines but I just NEED to know HOW.
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