A woman whose husband has been studying for 20 years is questioning whether his situation is a “red flag”.
Taking to social media, the woman said the couple had cleared their debt by exploiting a university scheme that pays certain students to continue studying throughout their life.
For 20 years, a man – now 40 – has been accumulating degrees and getting paid a “pretty penny” by his university to do so.
According to a post from his wife to social media, the institution offers a healthy monetary incentive for Indigenous students, for which the man had been “the only applicant in some time”.
For the entirety of his time at the university, he had received the grant every year, she said, and also got “age based grants and bursaries” – none of which needed to be paid back.
He was paid the equivalent of about USD$40,000 (A$60,000) a year.
“He describes himself as a career student because he loves being in school. It’s all above board, the university even encourages it,” her post, shared on Monday, read.
“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.”
As a result of the university’s scheme, the couple were “completely debt free”.
Their unique position meant the wife didn’t typically tell too many people her husband was a lifelong student.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
About 10 hours a week of work was enough to put food on the table, she said.
“We don’t live in luxury but live comfortably.”
More than nine thousands people responded to the revelation, many in disbelief the couple were living what they felt was “the dream”.
“Seems like he’s living the dream. Would love to do the same,” one person said.
“He has found the ultimate life hack and I’m so, so jealous. As it is, I need to spend the rest of my life earning money to pay back the loans I had to take so I could attend school,” another said.
“A lifetime of learning sounds like heaven to me. If this were possible for everyone we’d have fewer people proud of their ignorance.”