The purpose was to determine the motivational orientations of older adults attending Elderhostels at universities in Iowa and Nebraska. Objectives were to determine reasons given by older adults participating in Elderhostels; determine the relationship of variables such as age, sex, marital status, income, educational level, occupation, previous participation in Elderhostels, subject enrolled in, and place of residence; develop a model of motives for participation of older adults in Elderhostel and compare results of this study to those of previous studies;Older adults attending the University of Northern Iowa Elderhostel participated in the study. In addition, a small random sample of Iowa Elderhostel participants (not included in the University of Northern Iowa sample) was drawn. Older adults attending the Creighton University Elderhostel also participated;The Education Participation Scale developd by Roger Boshier (1971) was used to assess motivational orientations. Usable data was obtained from 154 of the older adults participating in the study. The Education Participation Scale was administered by program directors at the universities and by mail to the random sample;Data were analyzed using frequency counts to determine the general characteristics of the respondents, factor analysis to determine the motivational orientations, analysis of variance to determine the influence of the variables on the factors, step-wise regression analysis to determine the effects of the variables, and path analysis to measure the direct and indirect influence of each variable on each separate factor in the system. Five factors emerged as a result of the factor analysis: Cluster A, Other-Directed; Cluster B, Social Welfare; Cluster C, Escape/Stimulation; Cluster D, Cognitive Interest; and Cluster E, Social Relationships. Higher mean scores were found for Cluster D, Cognitive Interest, and Cluster E, Social Welfare;Significant differences were found for sex, marital status, and previous participation with Cluster A. Significant differences were also found for Cluster C and the variable residence; Cluster D and the variables marital status, age, sex, and educational level, and Cluster E and the variable marital status.