My brother’s amazing comeback to college after fifty years

Growing up in South Jersey, my siblings and I were often reminded by our mother to seek a college education to better our chances of landing a good job.

- Melanie Burney, Tribune News Service

My sister Andrea and I heeded her advice and obtained bachelor’s degrees with honors a few years after high school and began working in our professional fields. It took my brother, William, the oldest, nearly 50 years to believe that he could do it, too. We always knew he had the smarts and the grit. He had to believe it. After a circuitous journey, he proved it by graduating in December from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock at 67. His extended family could not have been more proud.

'I don't want to give up': He attended three colleges and took classes part-time for eight years. He enrolled in remedial math, reading and writing courses, had tutors and took algebra four times until he finally passed after two years. He missed a semester after a major health scare in 2022 interrupted his studies. “I didn’t want to give up. I was the only one in the family who didn't have a college degree,” he said. “For me, it was the sky is the limit and you can do it.” An increasing number of learners like Will, 35 and older, are joining younger students in college classrooms. More than 4 million were enrolled in postsecondary education in 2023, according to an Inside Higher Education report.