For some of you, it can feel like a lifetime before you earn your college degree. For Leo Plass, it was a lifetime.
Plass, 99, finally earned an associate degree from Eastern Oregon University on June 11 after dropping out of the school in 1932, at the age of 20.
“It only took me 80 years to get it done,” Plass joked in an interview with Reuters.
In addition to his diploma, Plass has also earned the honor of becoming the world’s oldest college graduate, the World Records Academy reports.
Despite being just a few credit hours short to graduate, Plass left Eastern Oregon University, formerly called Eastern Oregon Normal School, to take a job at a logging company, The Huffington Post states.
Plass had been studying to be a teacher, but when his bank failed and took his $400 in savings, a teacher’s salary of $80 a month was no longer enough to support him, The Telegraph reports. So when a friend offered him the job at a logging company, which paid $150 a month, Plass could not say no.
“He offered me $150, and it was the Great Depression,” Plass said, according to KTVZ.com. “That was a lot of money – a lot of money.”
What followed were some odd-jobs, including owning a gas station, picking tomatoes and running a credit agency, and a career in home building and remodeling.
Plass’ nephew, Greg Plass, contacted Eastern Oregon University to see if his uncle’s career could be a substitute for the few hours Plass needed to graduate.
“I thought maybe they’d look at his employment history and give him credit for his experiences so he could get his degree,” Gregg Plass said to The La Grande Observer.
The university agreed to the substitution, paving the way for Plass to receive his diploma. Plass had not known at the time he dropped out of school that he only needed three more hours to graduate.
“They told me I just had three hours to go,” he said. “I said, ‘Gee, too bad you didn’t tell me that then – I would have stayed there all night’.”
But Plass does not regret dropping out of school.
“I got twice as much money,” Plass said. “I was real glad I did it. It worked out good for me.
“In the end, I don’t think I would have enjoyed teaching that much,” he added. “I like being outside too much.”
Even though he is a college graduate, Plass does not plan on starting another career. For now, he has his 100th birthday, which is on Aug. 3, to look forward to.
“Never dreamed of something like this happening to me,” said Plass. “It’s out of this world.”
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