Comment by monkeycantype

I'm a software developer, and had got into a rut of working for finance companies, because they have the money. I'm in my early 50's with four kids, three still at home, and I'm working my way slowly through a biomedical science degree, already it's given me the domain knowledge to able switch industries - I'm still a software developer but now in a biomed startup and much happier for it. One of my colleagues just completed his PhD, he's about to turn 60. Personally, my experience is that higher education is much easier now that I'm older, I'm more mature and disciplined, and I have a different attitude, I only do classes because I want the knowledge that class will present to me. Sure I could read the text books on my own, but I find knowing I'll have to front up to an exam on a fixed date motivating.