written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . june 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message not to be confused with rhodes scholarship or road scholars road scholar type not for profit industry educational travel founded 1975 headquarters boston massachusetts number of employees 270 website www.roadscholar.org road scholar is an american not for profit organization that provides educational travel tours primarily geared to older adults . the organization is headquartered in boston massachusetts . from its founding in 1975 until 2010 road scholar was known as elderhostel . road scholar offers study tours throughout the united states and canada and in approximately 150 other countries . 1 contents 1 history 2 educational programs 3 scholarships 4 research and grants 5 references 6 external links history edit elderhostel was founded in 1975 by friends marty knowlton social activist and self described hippie and david bianco director of residential life at the university of new hampshire . knowlton rejected as ageism the belief that one s mind must fail as one ages . after four years of backpacking through europe and staying in hostels knowlton then in his 50s returned to the united states to direct the youth hostel program at the university of new hampshire . there he and bianco the university administrator decided that society needed elderhostels in addition to youth hostels . 2 the program started in the summer of 1975 offering older adults noncredit classes and dormitory housing on college campuses in new england 3 a sort of summer school for retired people . 4 elderhostel was officially established as a not for profit organization in 1977 . its program offerings expanded through the united states and canada and eventually internationally . by the 1990s more than 200 000 people were learning with elderhostel each year . 3 in 2010 elderhostel changed its name to road scholar in order to appeal to the next wave of older travelers baby boomers . ceo james moses explained the name change to the san francisco chronicle hostel no longer accurately described the lodging offered on the programs and baby boomers even when they re in their 60s don t like to think of themselves as elders he said . 4 for a few months during 2010 the company was called exploritas before changing its name to road scholar . educational programs edit road scholar now includes 5 500 programs dividing them into the categories of theme based inter generational outdoor adventures service learning adventures afloat and independent city discoveries . one program titled take to the tranquil skies as a student pilot may soon be ending . this program was an inter generational trip in which participants learned the basics of flying an airplane . however the college that sponsored that program may not continue to do so after 2016 . scholarships edit elderhostel extends approximately 300 000 yearly in scholarships to north american participants who might otherwise be unable to attend a road scholar program 5 research and grants edit elderhostel conducts research on aging and lifelong learning . 5 research articles include what will baby boomers want from educational travel and mental stimulation and lifelong learning activities in the 55 population . references edit flinn john 22 june 2012 . road scholar former elderhostel still about learning . san francisco chronicle . retrieved 2 june 2014 . nelson valerie j. 18 march 2009 . martin p. marty knowlton dies at 88 ; co founder of elderhostel . los angeles times . retrieved 2 june 2014 . a b greene kelly 19 september 2009 . travelers wanted . wall street journal . a b flinn john 22 june 2012 . road scholar former elderhostel still about learning . san francisco chronicle . retrieved 2 june 2014 . a b guidestar exchange reports for elderhostel inc . . guidestar.org . retrieved 2012 01 07 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title road scholar & oldid 743310434 categories adult educationnon profit organizations based in bostonorganizations established in 1975seniors organizationstravel and holiday companies of the united stateshidden categories articles with a promotional tone from june 2011all articles with a promotional tone navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 02 07 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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