Chances are, you'll find the answer you're looking for right here. If you don't spot what you need, please reach out to us. We're always happy to help.
Yes. Membership is required to participate in our learning community, per the Bernard Osher Foundation. As an OLLI @Berkeley member, you gain exclusive access to our courses and other member-only activities, including Town Halls, field trips, socials, intergenerational dialogues, and more. Learn more about member benefits. We hope you'll consider joining!
We offer six types of membership — Single Term, Annual, Annual Plus, Premium, Premium Plus and Best of OLLI. Review our membership types and choose the one that makes the most sense for you.
You’re always welcome to change your membership type when your current membership expires. You’ll find your membership expiration date in your Member Dashboard.
In some instances, you may change your membership before your current membership expires. You may:
- Request an upgrade from a current Annual or Single-Term membership to a Premium Membership. The Single-Term or Annual membership dues will be credited towards the $950 Premium Membership dues, but previously paid course registration fees will not be credited towards Premium Membership cost. The change will go into effect at the beginning of the next term.
Yes! We welcome everyone with a passion for learning. Please consider submitting an application for fee assistance if fees present a barrier to your participation in our community. With fee assistance, you'll enjoy waived membership dues (a $110 value) and 70% off individual course fees. Learn more about our Fee Assistance Program.
As a membership organization, we require each individual who participates in our learning community to be a standalone member. Memberships cannot be shared.
You can update your contact information, plus change your password and communications preferences, in your Member Dashboard by simply logging into your OLLI account. Learn more about how to navigate the Member Dashboard.
To the best of our knowledge, no. A tax professional would be the best person to contact for advice.
OLLI @Berkeley membership dues are non-refundable and non-transferrable.
Typically, registration opens on Mondays (around 9 AM) in the middle of the following months:
- July (for fall term)
- October (for winter term)
- February (for spring term)
- April (for summer term)
Our website allows us to display only one term at a time. When there's a large gap between terms (for instance, between summer and fall), we can display course offerings in advance of the opening of registration. That's less likely between terms that open/close within a day or two (for example, between winter and spring.) Our brochure (both print and digital) provides a good overview of our upcoming offerings so you can plan ahead.
Registering online is the easiest and speediest way to sign up for courses. Please email the office if you need assistance or call us at (510) 642-9934. (We check messages in the morning and afternoon.)
The price per course is determined by your membership type. For example, if the price of a lecture course is $155 for Single-Term and Annual members, it is $0 for Premium members. That's why your membership type needs to be activated in our system first in order to ensure accurate payment of courses.
Our team is mostly working remotely, and, per UC Berkeley guidelines, cannot take credit card information through unsecured channels such as personal cell phones.
However, we will gladly assist you with your registration by phone as much as possible, guiding you through the process, step by step. Please call us at (510) 642-9934 and we'll arrange a convenient time to meet (on the phone) and get you registered.
Each term, we offer a small number of hands-on workshops — typically writing- and art-focused — with 24 or fewer spots available. These courses often fill up quickly — sometimes even the day (or even the morning!) registration opens.
You can add a course at any point up until the official closing of registration (provided the course is not fully enrolled) by logging into your account and paying the applicable course registration fee associated with your membership type.
Please contact the OLLI office if you'd like to withdraw from a course. Courses can be dropped seven or more days before the start of a term to qualify for a refund minus an administrative fee of $25.
Members may request to drop a course for a refund, minus a $25 administrative fee, if the request is received at least seven days before the start of the term. After that point, course fees are non-refundable.
Alternatively, members may transfer into another course within the same term and price tier, on a space-available basis.
Please note: We’re not able to offer partial refunds, credit toward another course, or carry over any unused balance to a future term.
On rare occassion a course will be canceled before the start of term. If a course you've registered for is canceled, you may choose to sign up for another course with space available or receive a refund.
We do not offer the option to audit a course. We encourage you to register for courses and enjoy them in real-time or view class recordings available through the last day of term.
Learn everything you need to know about how to access your online courses — both livestream (classes that take place in real-time over Zoom) and video recordings.
All course materials, including videos, can be found in your Member Dashboard. Simply log into your OLLI account to access. Learn more about your Member Dashboard.
You'll be able to access all of your course materials, including videos, until the last day of the academic term in which you're enrolled. If you'd like to save any of the readings, you may download them at any point prior to that date.
If a class meeting is cancelled to due to faculty illness or other circumstances such as, for example, power outages (as has happened), we will make every effort to schedule a make-up class. The ability to reschedule is contingent on faculty availability and other variables. Course fees are not prorated if a make-up class cannot be scheduled or attended.
We follow the campus policy with respect to accommodation of religious creed. Like other UC Berkeley classes, OLLI @Berkeley classes do not meet on UC Berkeley administrative holidays.
UC Berkeley's campus-wide policy on note-taking applies to all OLLI courses. This policy specifies that lectures and presentations are the intellectual property of the faculty and states in part that "Students may not make audio or visual recordings of lectures or class presentations without the advance written consent of the instructor. The recording may not be reproduced or distributed in any manner, including the Internet, without the instructor's written consent."
On rare occasions, we will change a hybrid course (in person + livestream) to online-only if enrollment numbers do not ensure robust attendance in the physical classroom. We make every effort to reach that decision ahead of the start of term and immediately notify registrants of the change.
We'd love to hear it! Send your suggestion to berkeley_olli@berkeley.edu and we'll forward it to our curriculum team.
Yes. All of our physical venues comply with the American for Disabilities (ADA) guidelines for public access. Learn more about how we make our learning environment accessible to all.
Yes. Learn about hearing accessibility and assistive listening options in our physical classrooms as well as information about captioning online classes and events.
We make every effort to have course readings be accessible to members who use screen readers due to visual impairment. If you encounter course readings that cannot be accessed using a screen reader, please contact us so we can provide the materials in an alternate format.
We follow UC Berkeley's policies regarding dogs on campus property and the Access Guide to Animals as Accommodations.