Backwards to the Future: Central Texas Grandmother Earns Bachelor’s Degree At 73
WACO, Texas (KWTX) - On Friday, December 12, 73-year-old Glenda Nord was among more than 300 graduates to receive their degrees at Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen. It’s been a journey since she first decided to pursue her undergraduate degree in 2019. The grandmother of six and great-grandmother to two, with a third on the way, says she was inspired by her family and a conversation with her husband to pursue higher education 54 years after receiving her high school diploma.
“I had made a comment to my husband,” Nord explained. “I said I wonder what any incentives are besides getting Medicare and social security after you turn 65, so I just googled it, and that’s when I found it...You know, senior citizens can practically go to school for free.”
Nord is right. At various public Texas colleges and universities, such as Texas A&M University-Central Texas, individuals aged 65 and older can receive six hours of free credit each semester. Students often have to look for help within a school’s financial aid department, and sometimes the qualifications vary.
Nord found out she qualifies. She began her early courses at Temple College in Hutto, where she was surrounded by classmates who were still in high school, earning dual credit.
“I had some saying Oh, you remind me of my grandma and some of them would ask me, Do you binge-watch the Hallmark Channel on weekends?” Nord said through laughter.
When Nord later transferred to the A&M Central Texas campus in Killeen, the age gap closed. She was around older students, and many of them were in the military. That was something she was very comfortable with because she grew up with a father who was in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years, and married her husband, who was in the Texas Army National Guard for 40 years. Nord attended 18 different schools and never felt like school suited her because she moved around so much. She also could never make friends because of the moving, but now, she has plenty of new friends and a higher education.
“I graduated with my bachelor of science degree in interdisciplinary studies with minors in history, psychology and sociology,” Nord said.
The new graduate says she enjoyed experiencing history lessons in moments she had lived through, while her classmates could only read about them. She remembers when President Kennedy died as a child, a space shuttle blowing up over Texas, and the powerful words from Martin Luther King Jr. in the march on Selma.
" I think some of the other students were amazed like...she’s a walking history book," Nord said proudly.
She takes pride in taking an untraditional route to this moment.
“I do things backwards,” Nord laughed.
When asked what getting a higher education does for someone in her later years, Nord had a quick answer.
“You have to redefine yourself,” she said matter-of-factly. “And that’s what I did, going to school.”
While her classmates took plenty away from her, Nord says she learned quite a bit from them, too.
“I learned that a person just needs to accept everybody,” Nord said. “Don’t be judgmental - accept who they are and love them no matter what religion they are, what their politics may be...just love them because you’re a fellow human being.”
Nord is going on a cruise with her family over the holidays and plans to go to graduate school at Texas A&M University-Central Texas when she gets back. She is now one of the university’s three undergraduates who finished school in their 70s.
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