Retired College Couple Gets 4.0 Grade-Point Average

Retired college couple: A retired couple married for 51 years decided to go back to college recently.
Retired College Couple Gets 4.0 Grade-Point Average
Jack Phillips
5/2/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

Retired college couple: A retired couple married for 51 years decided to go back to college recently.

Harold Gates, 69, of Texas told WTRK-TV said he is going back “probably for the self-satisfaction that I’ll have a degree.”

Gates and his wife, who enrolled at Lone Star College in Kingwood, are slated to get their associate’s degrees in 2014. Both have maintained a 4.0 grade-point average and wear pins for Phi Theta Kappa, an honors society that honors academic achievement.

“Oh, this was an honor when we received our invitations,” Frances Gates told the station.

The two got married in 1960 after their high school senior prom, and mostly worked and raised their children.

College counseling director Kathy Adkins told the station that the “sky’s the limit” for the Gates. “In a sense, they hadn’t given themselves enough credit,” she said.

A report released this year called “The American Dream 2.0” found that 46 percent of college students do not graduate from college with any credential.

The report, which was released in late January, also found that 63 percent of African American students and 58 percent of Hispanic students failed to graduate in the same time period.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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