Goucher and Edenwald explore UBRC

Dear Goucher community:

I am pleased to share with you that today, Tuesday, March 22nd, Goucher College and Edenwald Senior Living have signed a letter of intent to explore jointly developing a University Based Retirement Community (UBRC).

As many of you know, Edenwald is a highly successful and respected Life Plan Community, also known as a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) that was developed on land acquired by Edenwald from Goucher College almost four decades ago. Our two institutions share a long history, both having been founded in Baltimore in the 1880s. In recent years Edenwald has become a great neighbor to us with many of our alumnae/i and faculty choosing to reside there and call Edenwald “home.”

Now, we open a new chapter in our longstanding relationship. We are excited to explore how our complementary strengths could potentially engage even more seniors by developing additional residences immediately adjacent to Edenwald on land leased from Goucher College to create a fully integrated University Based Retirement Community. 

This concept, where residents can take advantage of the academic, social, and cultural programming offered by a college, has gained popularity in recent years with Lasell University, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Stanford, and the University of Florida, among others, all having created affiliated UBRC programs. The concept integrates lifelong learning offered by the college or university with attractive residences, services, and amenities tailored for the retiree. It might even include classes developed specifically for lifelong learners or Goucher faculty and staff-led Intensive Course Abroad (ICA) trips tailored to an intergenerational class comprised of students of all ages 18 and up. 

It should be noted that none of this would affect our current residential halls reserved exclusively for our undergraduate population. Likewise, not all Intensive Courses Abroad would automatically be open to an intergenerational population. We have to find the right balance between serving our traditional undergraduate population and increasingly larger graduate and lifelong learning student populations. 

To this end, Edenwald Senior Living has contracted with Love & Company, a highly respected senior living market research firm, to conduct a survey of various potential constituencies including alumnae and alumni of Goucher College, to ascertain potential interest in this university-based retirement concept. We look forward to learning much more from this survey. 

Rest assured I will continue to provide our community with regular updates as our discussions with Edenwald progress, and ultimately let everyone know whether we decide to proceed or not with the development of a University Based Retirement Community. I look forward to discussing this much more with everyone in the months to come. 

Kent Devereaux