While highlighting and re-reading their homework assignments in thick course packets, nine students received their final paper topic from Northwestern history Prof. Steven Hahn on Tuesday night.

The assignment: Write a five-page paper agreeing or disagreeing with slavery reparations.

The class: Slavery, Race and Freedom.

But Hahn’s students are not NU undergraduates. Or graduates.

They are Chicago and Evanston residents, ages 18 to 55 and older, who are taking free classes to earn college credit as part of a program called the Odyssey Project.

Gathered around a table in a classroom at the Howard Area Community Center in Chicago on Tuesday night, the students were eager to debate the issue at hand.

Some of Hahn’s students never thought an education beyond high school was possible.

Drawing from life experiences and using textual references, students answered the question: “What is freedom going to mean now that slavery is done?”

“We get into a lot of heated discussions,” said Roderick Mathis, the only student from Evanston.

The Odyssey Project, now in its second year, is funded by the Illinois Humanities Council. Anyone who completes the courses can receive college credit from Bard College in New York.

NU’s Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities raised money to pay one of three NU professors who teach in the program, said Prof. Helmut Muller-Sievers, the center’s director. The other two professors volunteer their services.

Hahn said he thinks it is important for NU to sponsor the program because the university does not often get involved with Chicago- and Evanston-related projects.

To qualify to take the history class and other classes in philosophy, literature and critical thinking, students must live in a household with an income 50 percent above the poverty level or less. This means a student who comes from a family of four cannot have a household income of more than $36,000.

All of the students have known what it is like to struggle to make ends meet and must overcome many personal challenges, said Amy Thomas Elder, director of the Odyssey Project.

“The point (of the project) is to provide the space and the opportunity to a population that hasn’t had the luxury of pursuing a liberal education,” Elder said.

Besides offering the free classes, the Odyssey Project pays for books and transportation and provides child care. One of the students, Lynda Wright, said the classes are convenient because they are taught in her neighborhood.

Wright, who also works at the community center to help people find employment, said she once thought it did not matter if she continued her education because of her age. But after taking classes she said she now sees a wide variety of opportunities available to her.

“Whenever you begin to question again … it gives you strength,” Wright said. “It has given me a new look at a new life.”

To participate in the program, students do not need to have completed high school or have a high school equivalency diploma, Elder said. Classes are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m.

In addition to NU professors, instructors from University of Chicago and DePaul University teach as well. Classes also are held in North Lawndale on Chicago’s West Side. If students complete all the coursework they can earn up to six college credits.

On Thursdays, Prof. Michael Leff teaches literature. He said teaching with the Odyssey Project is different than teaching at NU since students from the Odyssey Project cannot always make it to every class and have to deal with problems undergraduates do not face. For example, many Odyssey students have full-time jobs.

NU Prof. Jean Goodwin, who teaches critical writing and thinking for the program, said she enjoys teaching students in the project more than working with undergraduate students.

Goodwin said the most challenging part of teaching is helping students overcome the fear of writing. She said she tells students not to focus on the rules of writing but to think of writing as a form of communication.

Both Wright and Mathis agree the hardest part of the class is writing papers. Wright said she had a difficult time writing in high school but now she has become more comfortable writing.

In September, Mathis is planning to participate in the second-year program, which will be geared toward preparing students for college. Next year will be the first time the second-year program will be offered.

After Mathis finishes the second-year program, he said he wants to continue his education and become a radiologist.

Though many students have gotten better jobs or have decided to continue their education because of the program, Elder said that was not the main purpose of the classes. She said education for the sake of education is what is important.