A Sixty-Five Year Academic Journey
When Laurence "Larry" Sloan enrolled at Princeton University in 1960, he never imagined it would take more than six decades to earn a bachelor's degree.
Just two years into his studies, a family financial crisis changed everything. Despite scholarships and loans, Larry left Princeton to help support his family through their insurance business. Over the years, he continued taking courses at Butler University and Purdue University while working full time, marrying, and raising children.
Eventually, life simply moved ahead.
A successful career as an independent sales representative followed, along with decades of professional growth, family responsibilities, and community involvement. Although he accumulated more than 100 college credits across multiple universities, finishing his degree quietly slipped into the background.
The dream never disappeared.
It simply waited.
After retiring, Larry discovered that senior citizens could take online courses through the University of Louisville. At eighty-one years old, he saw an opportunity to finish something he had started sixty-five years earlier.
With the guidance of an academic advisor, he developed a degree plan that finally brought together a lifetime of learning.
Looking back, Larry now realizes his education was never confined to a single campus. His studies in the humanities shaped how he understood people. Business courses strengthened his entrepreneurial mindset. Engineering and computer science helped him embrace new technologies throughout his career. Communications allowed him to connect ideas, customers, and communities.
Each chapter built on the one before it.
"The self-discipline required to complete college-level courses carries over to becoming a successful person both personally and professionally."
At eighty-three, Larry's greatest accomplishments extend far beyond his diploma.
He leads transportation initiatives that improve accessibility for older adults and people with disabilities, serves organizations addressing food insecurity and poverty, has supported healthcare efforts in Haiti, and continues to volunteer through Rotary International under its guiding principle of Service Above Self.
For Larry, education has never been about collecting credentials.
It has been about becoming a person better equipped to serve others.
Reflecting on his remarkable journey, he compares life to navigating a river.
There are rapids that force unexpected changes in direction. But beyond every difficult stretch, the river continues forward.
Earning his bachelor's degree after sixty-five years did not erase the detours.
It helped him understand their purpose.
Today, Larry believes that learning and service are lifelong companions. His story reminds us that it is never too late to finish what you started—and that sometimes the greatest value of education is not what it does for our careers, but who it helps us become.
Laurence Sloan is one of fifty adult learners featured in Beyond the Degree: Stories of Adult Learner Comebacks and What They Teach Us. Read his complete story in his own words, and discover what these remarkable comebacks teach us, in the book from the Center for Academic Innovation.