<p>I guess it really is never too late to go back to school 
Is a doctorate next on her agenda?</p>
<p>[Once-oldest</a> college grad earns her master’s at 98 | The Columbus Dispatch](<a href=“http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2010/05/19/once-oldest-college-grad-earns-her-masters-at-98.html?sid=101]Once-oldest”>http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2010/05/19/once-oldest-college-grad-earns-her-masters-at-98.html?sid=101)</p>
<p>Love that story, Lenitus! Thanks.</p>
<p>Great story! She is my hero. Now, I will not let my dream of graduate school die before I do.</p>
<p>how touching! You’re as young as you feel, definitely :)</p>
<p>I have to say, I just think this is just absolutely the best darned thing I have ever read on CC!!! This woman lives life totally to the fullest, her whole life. Her continuing lifelong learning achievements are an exquisite reminder that it is not to destination, but the journey that is important. No matter if you didn’t learn all you wanted to in college when you were young - you can just keep going at it. Anytime, all the time, as much as you want to learn, you can learn! Everyone, of all ages, take heed: you may actually have decades ahead of you to learn, so why not just do it, start the journey, go forth and learn, for crying out loud! Hooray for her! Hope she doesn’t leave me in the dust and finish her PhD before I do! Dang, there went my excuse not to do it!</p>
<p>This is so inspiring.</p>
<p>That’s so cool! One of my grandmas (who is nowhere near 98) never went to college but says she’s always wanted to. I’m going to forward this story to her. :)</p>
<p>Did she take out loans?</p>
<p>Not to be a Negative Nancy, but do you think this lady’s story – and it is certainly impressive and inspiring – sends the message that people should pursue education for the sake of education? Should we really be encouraging more people, young and old, to be going out to get expensive master’s degrees that may do nothing for their career prospects?</p>
<p>There are many reasons (other than simply occupational ones) to be educated</p>
<p>“Not to be a Negative Nancy, but do you think this lady’s story – and it is certainly impressive and inspiring – sends the message that people should pursue education for the sake of education?”</p>
<p>I don’t see any problem with pursuing education for the sake of education especially when you can afford it. I think her story sends a message to seniors that it’s never too old to have the pleasure of being a college student. </p>
<p>I don’t think that people in their teens and twenties are likely to use her as a role model unless they decide to think it’s OK to delay getting an education until they are old. </p>
<p>I love this:</p>
<p>"efore she received her undergraduate diploma in 2007, reporters asked her where she’d go from there.</p>
<p>Maybe, Ochs said, she’d be a storyteller on a cruise ship.</p>
<p>She was joking.</p>
<p>Then a cruise line called and sent her and her granddaughter, who graduated from Fort Hays with her, on a cruise in the Caribbean - where Ochs told stories of her life to vacationers.</p>
<p>“I tell people: ‘Eat your carrots. Eat your spinach. The 90s are great,’” she said with a laugh.</p>
<p>Now that she has her master’s (in liberal studies with a history concentration), what’s next?</p>
<p>“Oh, you won’t believe it,” Ochs said. “I’ve enrolled in a summer class - and a couple classes for the fall.”"</p>
<p>Wonderful story! An inspiration to young and old alike.</p>
<p>So cool! I’m going to be heading to grad school at half her age, but I still find that inspirational. </p>
<p>BTW, to the person who mentioned loans – many college and universities have tuition/fee waiver programs for students over a certain age – 55, 60, 65, etc. Though I’m lucky to be able to return to school now, I’ve consoled myself sometimes by remembering that if nothing else, once I get old enough, I would eventually be able to afford school. :-)</p>