UNO Passport Program Connects Lifelong Learners to the Classroom

For some Omahans, learning is a lifelong pursuit. This curious crew can be found, notebooks in hand, in classrooms and lecture halls across the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s (UNO) campus. Unlike many of their classmates, they’re not pursuing any degrees or certifications — they’re taking notes and engaging in discussions as part of UNO’s Senior Passport Program.

With the Passport Program, learners aged 65+ can sit in on two undergraduate courses at UNO each semester – turning a typical classroom into an intergenerational example of the power of education and impact of community conversations.

Kathy and Gene Schwarting, Ph.D., have taken Passport courses since 2014. After retiring from careers in education, the pair gravitated towards Passport for the opportunity to engage in new ideas and hear perspectives unlike their own. Over the past ten years, they’ve dived into topics like world religions, women’s literature, and Nebraska history through the program. For them, it’s not always just about the topic – but about the learning space they’re sharing with other students.

“I really want to hear the opinions and the viewpoints of other generations other than my own,” Kathy said.

In their Spring 2025 medical humanities class, Kathy and Gene were also joined by another Passport student: Betty Chin. Betty sees her Passport courses as a beneficial bonus for her brain — a way to keep her mind sharp, and new ideas flowing.

“I want to keep the brain stimulated and I always want to learn,” Betty said. “I want to learn what's going on in the world.”

The trio share the same core curiosity that keeps them engaged in the Passport program. As Betty, Kathy, and Gene gather among their peers in their classrooms across campus, the interactions they share with undergraduate students appear like any other between two classmates.

"I've been really pleased with how the students have accepted us — we’re older than their grandparents are, probably,” Gene said. “And yet they seem to accept that we're there and participate with us.”

And it’s not only the students who enjoy getting to know their Passport counterparts – it's the professors, too.

“We usually end up getting a comment at some point in the semester that they're really happy that I said I enjoyed the student’s perspective,” Kathy said. “But then the instructors will say to us that they enjoy our perspective too.”