Perpetual student

A perpetual student, gradual student, or career student is either a college or university attendee who either pursues multiple terminal degrees or re-enrolls for several years more than is necessary to obtain a given degree.

Holders of multiple academic degrees

Number of Earned Degrees	Name	Dates	Notes
30 [1]	Michael Nicholson	1941–present	Part-time parking attendant whose degree list includes 22 master's degrees and one doctorate. [2]
23 [3] [4]	Robert W. McGee	1947–present	Holds 13 doctorates. [5] Professor of Accounting at Fayetteville State University [6]
20 [7]	Shrikant Jichkar	1954–2004	Indian civil servant
16 [8]	Benjamin Bolger	1975–present	Received an associate's from Muskegon Community College, his bachelor's from the University of Michigan, thirteen master's degrees and a Doctor of Design from Harvard University. [9]
15 [10]	Luciano Baietti	1947–present	Studied for degrees in physical education, law, literature, philosophy, sociology, criminology, and military strategy. In 2002, The Guinness Book of World Records officially recognized Baietti as the most graduated living person in the world. [11]
11 [12]	Bruce Berry	1940–2014	Took his first degree from Manchester University in 1963. Earned a number of master's degrees starting in the 1970s. He earned a Ph.D. from Leeds Metropolitan University. Died while completing a second Ph.D. Worked in technical document translation for Agfa-Gevaert, for the Post Office, and as a teacher, before working as a school crossing guard in retirement.
11 [13]	John Warwick Montgomery	1931–2024	Lawyer and Christian apologist
10	Jacob Appel	1973–present	Holds both a Doctor of Medicine [14] and a Juris Doctor. Serves on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
9 [15]	Robelyn Garcia	1965–present	Former professional women's basketball player is currently an academic at Harvard University and Arizona State University.
9 [16] [17]	Domaine Javier	1992/1993–present	Filipino-American actress, nurse, and TV personality.

Long tenure to complete a single degree

See also: Progress toward degree

• Milton De Jesús has been a student at the University of Puerto Rico since 1963. In 2010, De Jesús was interviewed by the newspaper, since he was the only student on the campus who could compare the 2010 student strikes and the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and 2005 strikes. ^[18]
• Johnny Lechner attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater from 1994 until at least 2009. ^[19] He spent 13 years as a senior at the university. ^[20]

References

1. Miller, Korin (2016-09-14). "The Best College Advice From This Man Who's Been In School For FIFTY-FIVE Years". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
2. Holcomb, Anne (January 19, 2009). "Twenty-seven degrees and counting: Kalamazoo man enjoys the 'freedom' of intellectual pursuits". mlive.
3. "Robert McGee". 2023-03-31. Archived from the original on 2023-03-31. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
4. Holland, Monica. "Fayetteville's Robert McGee, 74, is world champion martial artist ... and novelist, doctoral degree holder, international consultant". The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
5. "Alumni Spotlight - at 72, Robert W. McGee is just Getting Started". 6 November 2019.
6. "Faculty & Staff". www.uncfsu.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
7. "Meet India's most educated man, who had 20 degrees, cracked UPSC twice, quit IAS job due to..." DNA India. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
8. Bernstein, Joseph (2024-06-03). "The Man Who Couldn't Stop Going to College". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-06-14.
9. Bernstein, Joseph (2024-06-03). "The Man Who Couldn't Stop Going to College". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-06-14.
10. "King of university degrees is 70-year old Italian | Inquirer News". newsinfo.inquirer.net. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
11. "King of university degrees is 70-year old Italian". Yahoo News. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
12. "Lollipop man studies 12th degree". BBC News. 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
13. "Lollipop man studies 12th degree". Los Angeles Times. 1989-11-01. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
14. "Jacob Appel". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
15. "Rev. Robelyn Garcia". University of Sedona. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
16. "RCC Alumna Domaine Javier discusses her struggles and successes throughout her life". Viewpoints. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
17. "BIOGRAPHY – IMDb (Name record nm6431726)". IMDb. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
18. El Nuevo Día year xxxx, vol14449 page 6- also at: https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/miltonvive-707559
19. "A cap and gown for UW-Whitewater's perpetual student? - JSOnline". 2009-12-30. Archived from the original on 2009-12-30. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
20. Prizevoits, Antonijs (2009-08-02). "Fraternity House". Apple TV. Retrieved 2024-06-14.

Further reading

• Kalamatianou, Aglaia G.; McClean, Sally (2003-12-01). "The Perpetual Student: Modeling Duration of Undergraduate Studies Based on Lifetime-Type Educational Data" . Lifetime Data Analysis. 9 (4): 311–330. doi:10.1023/B:LIDA.0000012419.98989.d4. ISSN   1572-9249. PMID   15000407. S2CID   22845288. ResearchGate:7142424. ProQuest   a21220a00f9f9af8bde08b4abae9c90f.
• Kalamaras, Dimitrios A.; Kalamatianou, Aglaia G. Life Table Method for the Duration of Studies: Further Results. 14th Young Statisticians Meeting. ResearchGate:322717479. Academia 1942093. Academia 7114670.