Yeah, but I can dream! 
I just wish more of my mature students were like you (as opposed to the one who asked whether I even had a PhD and what qualified me to teach the class!). 
Were your old credits still valid or did you have any problems getting them to jive with their current curricula?
All of my old credits were still valid, so I started back as a Junior. There were a few classes that were specific to my old major that can’t be used in my new major, but not many. Most everything I had taken to that point was a core curriculum class…something you would need to take no matter what you were majoring in. One class (a lab) went from CH102 to CH121, so that is needing some help getting the system to recognize that I have, in fact, taken the required course, but I thought there would be many more problems than I’ve encountered.
One of the reasons I went back to NCSU in the first place was so I wouldn’t have to transfer my credits to another school.
I relate to maturity much more than chronology… All of my instructors have had to achieve success to become instructors. My Intro to World Literature professor was a good decade younger than me, but was very intelligent. I’d come early and stay late just to talk to her about the stuff we were reading.
My Composition 121 Professor was probably 3 to 5 years my senior. On the first day of class when she reviewed the syllabus, she ended the class by informing us that while she did keep some office hours, we need to know that she had a life outside of there. If we need her, well, that was what class time was for. We could call or e-mail her, but don’t count on her responding. We had chapters assigned to read from the text and due dates for essays, but although I got an A in the class, I didn’t learn a thing from her.
I’ve been told she is one of the toughest in the department and I should be proud of the grade, but it feels like she was too lazy to honestly grade my work.
I find this really interesting to hear from a student perspective – not so much the reaction to ages, but the reactions to class management; let me preface by saying that I love talking to my students about the work they’re doing in class, I will happily sit after class, before class, in my office hours, respond to emails at 10pm and help and talk to students about class and the work we’re doing in class. I’ll even make sure I help them relate this class work to stuff they’re doing in other classes, or have done in other classes.
However, there does come a stage when as an instructor, you do have to draw a line because otherwise all you’re doing is dealing with students and your class all the time, and the rest of your work (e.g. research, other non-teaching responsibilities that you have and that you have to excel in in order to achieve tenure) is suffering because of it. At that point you really do have to say “enough is enough. Here are my office hours, you can see me then, or in class, or you can email me, but not expect an immediate response. Phonecalls are right out.”
I’m not defending the attitude of the instructor in your second example, but I suspect she may have been burned a few times and was nipping it in the bud, albeit a little harshly.
Again, I’m in Community College, so YMMV. My History prof told us that the reason that he (Published and invited to contribute to a program by the National Geographic Channel) chose to teach at the Community College was that there was no “publish or perish” aspect. Every class I’ve had was a class of less than 30 students. I’ve never encountered a “Teacher’s Assistant” and save one, every professor has been very generous with their time.
To be told that “although I do keep office hours, they are largely for clerical work, please don’t expect me to make those available for questions you could be asking here.” was off putting.
My Algebra Prof gave me her home phone number and told me to call her whenever I needed help, but to understand that she had a second job and might not be available 24/7. I never used it, but it was a stark contrast to “Mrs. Don’t bother me, I’m busy.”