Many senior citizens are eligible for attendance free of tuition and fee charges for credit and noncredit courses, either part time or full time.

The Senior Citizens Higher Education Act of 1974 allows a senior citizen, defined as a person who is at least 60 years old prior to the beginning of the academic semester, to take courses without paying tuition or required fees (except for course materials) under certain conditions. If the senior citizen, who must be a resident of Virginia, had a federal taxable income of not more than $10,000 in the preceding year, the individual may take a course for academic credit. If the person's taxable income exceeded $10,000, the individual may only audit the course for free. A senior citizen, regardless of income level, may take a noncredit course for free.

No limit is placed on the number of semesters in which a senior citizen who is not enrolled for academic credit may register for courses, but the individual can take no more than three noncredit courses in any one term. The law places no restriction on the number of courses that may be taken for credit in any semester or on the number of terms in which an eligible senior citizen may take courses for credit.

The statute stipulates two additional conditions which must be met before a senior citizen who wishes to take a course under the provisions of this program may do so:

1. The senior citizen must meet the admission requirements of the college, and
2. The senior citizen may be admitted to a course only on a "space available" basis after all tuition-paying students have been accommodated, unless the senior citizen has completed 75 percent of the degree requirements necessary for a degree. At such a time in the senior citizen's program, the senior citizen may enroll in courses at the same time as tuition-paying students.