When their son graduated from college in 2010, the couple sold their house on a quarter-acre in New Jersey and moved into one last yearly rental to see whether they wanted to downsize. They didn’t. The next year, they bought a home that was about the same size, 2,500 square feet, as their New Jersey home. The new residence sits on nearly two acres and was one-third the price.

Even though the Ithaca winters, which average 65 inches of snow, are milder than she remembers, they still escape for several weeks to the Florida sun and to visit family.

In other seasons, Ms. Burford credits the area with encouraging a healthier lifestyle that incorporates biking and hiking in addition to sailing. The couple visits the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell University campus and Cornell Botanic Gardens. They anticipate enrolling in a bird behavior course offered in the spring by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Bill O’Connell, 69, a former trade association executive who lived in suburban Washington, took a course to decide where to live before settling in Asheville, N.C., home of the University of North Carolina Asheville. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on that campus offers two courses to help individuals with retirement planning. Mr. O’Connell said they helped focus his priorities. “Most people confuse where it was fun to vacation with where it is good to retire,” he said.

He was renting in Alexandria, Va., paying $2,400 a month for 1,000 square feet of living space. The Asheville condominium he now owns is twice the size. And he said he did not skimp on entertainment. While the symphony in Chicago, where he also once lived, was more than $100 a ticket, in Asheville his cost is less than $40. “I feel more like a participant because of the cost of things I like to consume,” he said.

He already had two advanced degrees, an M.B.A. and a Master of Public Administration, but he decided to enroll as a graduate student to study how communities approach public health for older adults.

For all the advantages, relocating to a college community also has some drawbacks. “Colleges and universities can be a bit insular,” Catherine Frank, executive director at the Osher Institute at U.N.C. Asheville, wrote in an email. Moreover, “becoming part of the intellectual life of a campus focused on serving undergraduates can take some persistence.”