Living Legend Gets Paid $40K Annually To Attend University, Earns Five Degrees After Being a Student For 20 Years

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Jul 3, 2023 6:00 PM EDT

If you could have any life without restrictions, what would that life look like? Some of you might want to be rich and famous or to travel the world without having to spend a dime. For me, I would love to be one of those people who spend all of their time reading and learning. If I could go to college forever and never have to do anything but learn new things, I would absolutely do that. I could finally finish the Linguistics degree that I couldn't finish and take classes that I didn't have time for when I was getting my incredibly practical English Literature degree. 

One incredibly intelligent man has found a way to have that sort of life and get paid for it. An Aboriginal 40-year-old has spent the past 20 years winning the same bursary every year and earning more undergraduate degrees than anyone ever thought possible. 

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  • 01
    Font - CODE A Het 1 r/NoStupid Questions u/Prize-Report6742 • 23h Join My husband is 40 and has been in university for 20 years. Would that be a red flag for you?
    via u/Prize-Report6742
  • 02
    Font - He gets paid to go to school, about USD$40,000 a year equivalent. The university offers a bursary for aboriginal students, and he's been the only applicant in some time. He gets it every year. But he also gets age based grants and bursaries, none of it needs to be paid back. He describes himself as a career student because he loves being in school. It's all above board, the university even encourages it.
    via u/Prize-Report6742
  • 03
    Font - He has degrees in linguistics, history, chemistry, computer science, accounting, and is currently working on a physics degree. He loves to learn and to teach others; he's the smartest person I know. He says he stays in school because it's his "hobby" and he's paid a pretty penny for it. We're completely debt free.
    via u/Prize-Report6742
  • 04
    Font - I think our relationship is unique in that I have no problem with it, although I'd like to see him apply himself outside a school setting. But I want to know what other people think of it. It's not something I generally tell my friends, just that he's in school part time and doing other things. His 10~ hour commitment a week puts food on our table; we don't live in luxury but live comfortably.
    via u/Prize-Report6742
  • 05
    Font - noweirdosplease • 22h 1. What country is this 2. How can this be my life .... Reply 46.3K
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  • 06
    Font - niketyname 22h Sounds like Australia ... 929
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  • 07
    Font - Prize-Report6742 OP 22h It is Australia. ● 911
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  • 08
    Font - Ok Willow_8569 17h I work at an Australian university and I have to tell you, the industry is not doing well right now. Budgets are extremely tight and due to international student shortfall and domestic students not taking their place, every uni is making deep cuts. Staff are losing their jobs, courses are being cut, and every budget I control has had from 3%-20% removed for the next 2 years. I encourage you to find out where this bursary money is coming from (University admin or a phila
    via u/Ok_Willow_8569
  • 09
    Font - glappybag 21h 2 Awards Australia 1. be born into crippling poverty and societal discrimination 2. get lucky and escape edit: my comment was addressing the comment above's desire to have this life. my point is that the preconditions for this life involve being born into miserable circumstances and that most in those circumstances don't get to take advantage of this kind of opportunity. not hating on OP's husband. good on him. I'm saying its dumb to envy him. you can't have an opportunity l
    via u/glappybag
  • 10
    Font - BlakeHinsonTheDawg - 20h Yeah, to me the biggest problem is that this guy is helping himself yearly to apparently not-well advertised educational opportunities that could go to help other people in his community get out of their deprived circumstances. The thread is basically just a humblebrag (my smart husband has no debt and gets free money for his seven degrees, is that a red flag, teehee) but that's the biggest takeaway I have as someone who's interested in ways to improve the lives o
    via u/BlakeHinsonTheDawg
  • 11
    Handwriting - dl-_-lp. 20h I'm just find it weird that they're asking this question after already having been married 518 ...
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  • 12
    Font - Lazy-Resort8622 - 20h "Is it a red flag that my husband is doing something he loves that I totally support and doesn't negatively impact our relationship?" Lmao, OP is an ass ... 766
    via u/Lazy-Resort8622
  • 13
    Font - gamiscott 23h 4 Awards It sounds like he's not amassing crippling debt and he's providing for both of your needs. Doesn't seem like a reg flag to me. As long as you're comfortable with it then that's an awesome way to live. Don't let societal expectations ruin something awesome. ... Reply 16.2k
    via u/gamiscott
  • 14
    Font - stepitup9600 - 23h 2 Awards Seems like he's living the dream. Would love to do the same! ... Reply 24.6k
    via u/stepitup9600
  • 15
    Font - Hurry Past386 . 21h I dreamt of doing this all my life. This guy is actually doing it. Nobody could even say he's just being lazy or wasting time since he's also finishing the degrees. ... 4 165
    via u/HurryPast386
  • 16
    Handwriting - aethelberga. 22h At some point he's going to make a plan in case this gravy train runs out. What if he's not the only applicant one year? Reply 4770 ↓ ...
    via u/aethelberga
  • 17
    Font - _reeses_feces. 22h Yes this is exactly what I was thinking. His eggs are all in one basket right now. And funding for grants can be cut with no notice, he needs an idea of what career he would do if everything fell thru 365 凸
    via u/_reeses_feces
  • 18
    Font - ghengiscostanza • 20h So they created this govt program to in theory send a new aboriginal student to school each year, but he's the only aboriginal person around so he has applied for it every year for 20 years and won? That's nuts. It's a red flag because he's based his entire livelihood for two decades on a loophole that could be closed any minute. If one other aboriginal kid wants to go to school I imagine that kid will win no matter what over the 40 year old who already won it 20 tim
    via u/ghengiscostanza

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