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Is wizarding education available for adults? That is, if a magic-sensitive person, for whatever reason (e.g. financial pressure, family trouble, previously expelled) is not able to complete wizarding school during their teen years, are they totally out of luck in terms of actually learning magic or are there adult education options?

  • Can adults attend Hogwarts as students? I don't recall seeing any, but that doesn't mean that it's against school policy or that there isn't a separate Adult Education house down in the sub-sub-sub basement that we never see.
  • Are there separate Wizarding Schools for adults?
  • Is there a wizarding GED?
  • Do adults study on their own or with a private tutor and then challenge exams (e.g. OWLs and NEWTs)?
  • Can they do an apprenticeship with a qualified wizard?

It seems that there probably is not an easy adult option, since if there was, Hagrid would have probably enrolled years ago. Am I wrong, and he actually turned down substantial opportunities to finish his education?

Any media is acceptable, books, movies, interviews, etc.

My mention of Hagrid is just an example. I'm well aware that he may have felt that the stigma of having an adult remedial diploma plus a prior expulsion on his CV/academic record might have been too great for him to bear and so he chose not to pursue any more education - but would an adult remedial diploma even have been an option, or did he become SOL and forever locked out of wizarding education at age 18 or 21?

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Robert Columbia
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    The only light insight I recall is Filch's Kwikspell correspondence, which was likely a scam anyway. At a guess, a private tutor, and a private OWL examiner (which was shown to be separate from the school), can be found with enough effort, but is likely to be difficult and expensive. Probably without that education, the general fallback would be personal connections and references to make their way, much like real life. – Radhil May 04 '18 at 16:57
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    In Hagrid's case he never did anything as adult even though he could openly practice magic... https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/150212/57310 – Skooba May 04 '18 at 17:04
  • Similar to https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/8774/does-higher-education-exist-in-harry-potter – Valorum May 04 '18 at 17:45
  • @Radhil good point about the difficult and expensive thing. In our world, I keep hearing about the awesome opportunities there are for adults to finish their secondary education, but that the actual adults are too busy, poor, lazy, or stupid to actually enroll. "Why why why?" cries the local Adult Literacy Center. "Hello? Anyone? Bueller?" – Robert Columbia May 04 '18 at 18:16
  • @RobertColumbia - not all adults ignore higher education in the real world, although yes, it's easy to find those who do; in the case of the magical realm, I imagine with more population and/or more concentrated communities they could easily create some similar programs. The selection bias is strong though; when teleports are so common, why do so... and then naturally, those who can't are very much left out. – Radhil May 04 '18 at 18:28

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There’s no current mention of a way for adults to go to a wizard school.

While it’s possible that there is some way for adults to learn magic if they were unable to learn it as children at the “normal” age for starting at wizarding school, there’s no way currently mentioned for adults who were for some reason unable to as children to attend wizarding school. This doesn’t mean there isn’t any way, though - we simply may have never seen an untrained adult wizard who wanted to continue their education. The only untrained adult wizard we see is Hagrid, and he may have just chosen not to rather than being unable to.

The only way ever mentioned for adults to learn magic is the Kwikspell course Filch takes, which is described as a correspondence course in beginner’s magic.

“Feel out of step in the world of modern magic? Find yourself making excuses not to perform simple spells? Ever been taunted for your woeful wandwork?

There is an answer!

Kwikspell is an all-new, fail-safe, quick-result, easy-learn course. Hundreds of witches and wizards have benefited from the Kwikspell method!”
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 8 (The Deathday Party)

It wouldn’t work for Squibs, of course, but it’s unclear whether it’d work for people who actually have magic, or if it’s simply a scam to make money off of untalented wizards. If it does actually work, it starts at a very basic level, so could theoretically be used by adult wizards who never learned magic. It, or courses like it, might be options for adults who never got to learn magic.

“Fascinated, Harry thumbed through the rest of the envelope’s contents. Why on earth did Filch want a Kwikspell course? Did this mean he wasn’t a proper wizard? Harry was just reading ‘Lesson One: Holding Your Wand (Some Useful Tips)’ when shuffling footsteps outside told him Filch was coming back.”
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 8 (The Deathday Party)

However, the only time someone was ever mentioned to actually attend a wizarding school past the intended age was when J.K. Rowling mentioned in an interview that Hermione went to finish her seventh year at Hogwarts. However, she wasn’t much past the intended age and it was special circumstances - it’s unclear what a “regular” case of an adult wizard who wants to learn magic would look like.

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