12-year undergrad postpones the real world -- again

Parents Forum
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<p>
[quote]
Despite his 12 years as an undergraduate student, Johnny Lechner realized something was missing from his academic record: he'd never studied abroad.</p>

<p>And so, the 29-year-old perpetual student who was expected to finally graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater withdrew his application for graduation Monday, five days before commencement.

[/quote]
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/10/perpetual.student.ap/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/10/perpetual.student.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Every parent's worst nightmare</p>

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<p>Ain't that the truth! Hopefully, he's paying his own way at this point.</p>

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<p>He also has to pay full OOS level tuition.</p>

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<p>I misread the thread title, and thought I was going to read about a 12-year-old at college. This is worse! Don't they cut these people off after a while? Even Ph.D. programs have time limits.</p>

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<p>UWW has a lot of commuter and part-time students. They may be more lenient than most schools on length of attendance. And who could have foreseen an undergrad who, basically, refuses to graduate? It's always a dubious honor when some way-off-base behavior forces a new punishment for that behavior, but now they have the "Lechner Rule."</p>

6

<p>"It's getting old," she said. "For the sanity of the rest of the campus, we want him to get out of here."</p>

<p>Loved this quote from the school newspaper editor.</p>

<p>When I read the article, I realized he's taken a rather light course load over the years. Who in the world will ever hire this guy? I predict his next move will be an American Idol contestant.</p>

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<p>I predict his next move will be an American Idol contestant ... or join the NEA.</p>

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<p>There was an article in GQ or Esquire in the past year or so about a guy at Cornell who has been an undergrad for even longer than this guy. I think he even lived in a frat.</p>

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<p>As long as he's paying his own way, what's the problem? I'm assuming he doesn't need to work. It seems a more worthwhile use of his time then a lot of things he could be doing.</p>

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<p>This is just another a guy who is experiencing the "FAILURE TO LAUNCH" syndrome -- he should have been pushed out of the college nest a long time ago.</p>

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<p>Van Wilder may not have been 12 years, but "his best 7/8 years of his life" movie was one very funny movie.</p>