Boston University is not the only school in the Boston area that offers educational opportunities to those more concerned with paying bills than playing broomball.

Colleges in the Boston area offer a wide variety of classes that serve students ranging from high school seniors to retirees.

Large schools, like Boston College and Harvard University, as well as smaller schools, like Emerson College, offer continuing education classes. In addition, institutions like the Brookline Center for Adult Education and Cambridge College specifically serve nontraditional students.

Some schools are dependent on continuing education students. According to the website of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, 52 percent of their students study part-time. The average undergraduate student is 28 years old, and the average graduate student is 32 years old.

While UMass-Boston may cater to older, part time students, Boston’s private universities award most of their undergraduate degrees to 21-year-olds, administrators at several of the schools said. Still, a large number of them offer evening classes to those who cannot find time to study full-time or do not want to have classmates who are five or 10 years younger than them.

‘We offer general education and core courses from each major,’ said Tori Westin, coordinator of customer relations at emerson college. Westin said continuing students can take courses such as ‘Marketing’ or ‘Political and Organizational Communication’ at Emerson, a school that specializes in communication studies.

Continuing students must be at least 23 years old to seek an undergraduate degree through Emerson’s continuing education program. Students of all ages, however, can take part in one of the many workshops the school offers, such as photography and copy editing.

Westin said students of diverse ages often take courses at Emerson.

‘We have a mix of right-out-of-high-school students who didn’t want to go to college right away students wanting to pursue a degree as an adult, or professionals who may just want to take a class but never had the time to, like Creative Writing,’ Westin said.

While some may take one or two classes for personal enrichment, other students invest years taking many classes, acquiring bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

‘The valedictorian for the class of 2002 was a continuing education student,’ she said.

Northeastern University also offers classes in a continuing education program similar to the one in its regular undergraduate program. Known as University College, the continuing education program’s most popular majors are Business Administration and Information Technology, though courses are also offered in the liberal arts, said Rudy Zanveghten, a spokesman for the university.

‘We have a wide range of classes that lead to undergraduate certificates and graduate certificates, in addition to degrees,’ Zanveghten said.

Continuing education students at Northeastern range from ages 20 to 70, according to Zanveghten, and most are well into the workforce when they enroll.

‘They’re mostly adults who work days and need some kind of educational alternative that takes place in the evening,’ he said. ‘We’re also expanding our online offerings,’ making a college education even more accessible, he said.

Northeastern also attracts a large number of international and immigrant students, he said, because the school offers classes such as English as a Second Language.

In addition to benefitting older students, University College has also helped Northeastern, he said.

With approximately 10,000 students enrolled, University College continues to contribute to university coffers while taking a path different from the university as a whole.

‘In the past it’s had a large financial impact on the university,’ Zanveghten said. ‘Right now the university is undergoing a facelift, and it’s looking at an upscale, research-oriented education, and University College is separate from that. We offer practice-oriented education. You learn at night and apply what you learned the next morning at work.’

One of the largest continuing education programs in the Boston area is Harvard University’s Extension School, which offers 650 courses in the arts and sciences on an open enrollment basis.

Like Emerson and Northeastern students, Extension School students range in age, according to Christopher Queen, dean of continuing education students at Harvard.

‘They range in age from high-schoolers to retirement age,’ Queen said.

One recent graduate, Mary Fasano, picked up a bachelor’s degree at age 89, he said. ‘She went on to work on her master’s with us in her 90s,’ he said.

While students come in all ages, most are in their late 20s. Many are also immigrants.

‘We have a large number of immigrants studying the English language or getting certificates that are like mini-MBAs,’ Queen said.

The ‘mini-MBAs’ come in the form of Certificates for Human Resources Development or Marketing.

Among other benefits, the Extension School provides an educational resource to the Harvard community, Queen said.

‘The university staff receives a large tuition remission,’ allowing them to take courses at a fraction of the cost, he said.

By offering tuition remission, Queen said, ‘we help to create the skills and professional advancement of our own staff.’

‘It also provides opportunities to residents of Boston and Cambridge,’ Queen said. ‘It allows us to meet a remarkable range of people.’

As is the case for the other schools, the Extension School is a financial boon for Harvard.

‘Like the summer school, the Extension School is a source of income for the university,’ Queen said, noting revenue from the program runs into the millions.