Seniors Take in College Roommates to Reduce Loneliness

Credit: Vantha Tang

A slew of programs are now finding senior citizens roommates in unexpected places: colleges and universities. These initiatives strive to increase connection, reduce loneliness and help students save on rent. Institutions including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Drake University in Iowa, and Quinnipiac University in Connecticut have created programs that house students in senior living facilities. In exchange, students perform live music recitals, or simply spend quality time with their aging counterparts.

Students report that the programs allow them to learn important history lessons, establish meaningful relationships and obtain advice from those with decades of experience. Meanwhile, seniors benefit from their vitality, assistance and companionship.

J.P. Venoit, chief executive of Masonicare at Ashlar Village, a retirement community in Connecticut that takes live-in students from Quinnipiac University, told Fox News that their program has exceeded expectations. Students “aren’t going through the motions,” he said. “They have become fully engaged.”

Home-Sharing Programs Find Seniors College Roommates

Meanwhile, home-sharing programs across the United States have been allowing students to rent rooms well below the market rate in exchange for about five to eight hours of help around the house each week. Participants will change light bulbs, weed the garden or shovel snow. Sometimes, they’ll simply cook with their aging roommates, or attend a movie together.

Home-sharing reduces ageism and loneliness

And technology has stepped in to assist the process. An app called Nesterly enables the elderly to create profiles detailing the kind of help they need, and search for appropriate candidates. Launched in Boston in 2017, it has since taken off. Brenda Atchison, a Boston resident who’s used the app to recruit students from Pennsylvania, Greece and China, told Curbed that doing so has given her a new sense of community – “like coming home when I was a kid and the whole family was there.”

By combating ageism and building community, these programs aim to reduce the widespread mental and physical health impacts of loneliness – particularly on the elderly. A 2018 study published in the journal “International Psychogeriatrics” found that more than three-quarters of adults experience moderate levels of loneliness, with the greatest severity occurring in the late-20s, mid-50s and late-80s.