COLUMBIA, SC (WLTX)- Bob Burg remembers his first day of college jitters like anyone else.
"I was quite nervous about school in the beginning," he said. "I didn’t know if id be able to find my classrooms, I didn’t know if I was going to fit in, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do the work."
But there's one small difference."I walked into school," he recalled, "and one of the young girls said 'Mr. burg, are you over 60?' I laughed and said 'honey, you were still in diapers when I turned 60!'"
Bob entered his freshman year of college at the University of South Carolina at 74 years old."I dropped out of high school in the 11th grade," he explained. "Went to the air force for 4 years."
Bob worked in his family business for 35 years before retiring."I had nothing to do," he said. "I had plenty of hobbies, but you can only fill up your life so much with hobbies."
He realized there was still a void in his life."I just wanted to see if I could do it," he said. "I had never been a student, even when I was back in high school I was a terrible student, I never paid much attention to school, most of the time I didn’t even go. So I just wanted to see if I could do it."
And he did. Bob walked across the stage and accepted his four year degree in history."I'm pleased with myself," he said. "I'm happy that I did it, I’m happy that I did it well."
He says he's learned a lot... on and off the lesson plan."You’ll find you can accomplish almost anything you set your mind to accomplish," he said. "You have to just get out there and do it.. That’s what I found."
And now that college is checked off the list, Bob Burg is on to the next."I'm going sailing," he laughed. "Just going sailing."
The University of South Carolina, per state law, offers free tuition to South Carolina residents over the age of 60.University officials say they usually have around 200-250 senior citizen students every year.