90-Year Old US Woman Graduates From University After Dropping Out In 1950s

A 90-year-old woman finally received a Bachelor of General Studies degree from the Northern Illinois University (NIU), United States, seven decades after she was enrolled in college. Joyce DeFauw, then Joyce Viola Kane, began her freshman year at Northern Illinois University in 1951, intending to major in home economics.

In a press release by NIU, Ms DeFauw said that she went to college but later found a "good looking guy." She said, "I went three and a half years and then at church I met this good-looking guy and things happened and we decided to get married."

She married Don Freeman Sr. in 1955 and had three children before Mr Freeman died, leaving her widowed for about five years. Ms DeFauw later remarried her late second husband, Roy DeFauw. They had six children together, including two sets of twins. At the moment, she is a mother of nine, grandmother to 17 and great-grandmother to 24.

In 2019, Ms DeFauw returned to the university with her original black-and-white student ID and her family's encouragement to complete her degree through online classes. She worked steadily from her retirement home on her first computer, which her family had given her.

Returning to NIU in 2019 with her original 1951 student ID in hand, 90yo Joyce DeFauw will walk the stage at this weekend's commencement, earning her degree seven decades in the making.

For more of Grandma Joyce's inspiring story, visit: https://t.co/nFhsD9YydE#HuskiePride pic.twitter.com/qEifAQeCjS

— NIU (@NIUlive) December 5, 2022

"People see things in you that you don't see in yourself," she said in the university's press release. "I feel these people had faith in me, and I can only give thanks." 

Jenna Dooley, one of Ms DeFauw's 17 grandchildren and an NIU alumnus, told CNN that when DeFauw decided to return, it was more about the 'why not' than the 'why.' She recalled visiting her grandmother in her farmhouse as a child, where Ms DeFauw was always baking or cooking.
"When we made calls to the school about a previous enrollment, they were shocked to hear we were asking about a student from the 50s," Ms Dooley told the outlet.

She said it was different for her grandmother as instead of walking to campus, she attended class from her retirement home via computer. When COVID-19 pandemic hit, the old woman could not leave her room. She felt even more thankful for her computer because it gave her something to do. Still, the isolation and struggles with her studies got to her occasionally.

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"A lot of times I would have quit. I almost did. There were just too many people who knew about it. I didn't want to let them down. I quit once and I was like, 'I don't want to do it again," she said in the press release. She also said that she would not have been able to complete her education without her family's support. 

She said in the release, "I've learned that I can do things I never thought I could do, with the help of others. You can never quit learning."