I had the same worries as someone who with some luck will graduate in his 30s. I went back to college after dropping out when I was in my early 20s. Someone to

I had the same worries as someone who with some luck will graduate in his 30s. I went back to college after dropping out when I was in my early 20s. Someone told me "You're going to be X+4 years in 4 years anyway, why not try achieving that thing you want. Time will pass either way" Surprise: Right now I enjoy college VS before when it felt like a chore I had to go because was the "right thing to do". It's great to share a space with people who share the same interest in a topic of science/humanities as you do. Being an old dude in college, allows you to be less worried about late-teenage problems like drama in relationships, in my case being hot-headed, dealing with parents' expectations, or the chronic stress from failing tests thinking it's the end of the world, etc. Plus, being the "old dude" from the class, hasn't been a problem at all, people are respectful most of the time, and if you're friendly, they will even seek you for mentorship. As long as you're not behaving like Chevy Chase from "Community", nobody will give much importance to your age. Yeah, there is a lot of things that are just bureaucracy to create false gatekeeping that I don't like even now. But from time to time, I find lectures about topics I didn't know existed... and I have that feeling of being a kid again, and finding something new from 0. And that's 100% worth it. So I get why the dude, would keep searching for a PhD even in his eldery years. I am fortunate enough to live in a country where college it's free. But if it's too expensive, you could get a lot of the value from distance Coursera, and online courses/communities.