An 85-year-old grandmother named
Kim Jeong-ja has made history as South Korea’s oldest college graduate this year.

On Friday, she slowly walked up to the stage, receiving her degree in social welfare after a remarkable journey that began at the age of 78.

Born in 1941 as the eldest of eight children, Kim grew up during the Korean War. Formal education was never an option for her.

“In my day, girls didn’t get to go to school. I worked until my fingernails wore off,” she recalled.

She spent her life working in households, lunch box factories, and bathhouses to support her family. Education remained a distant dream.

Along the way, she underwent three surgeries for her crooked back, enduring physical hardship without ever losing her quiet determination to keep going.

Her turning point came in her late 70s when she went to see her daughter off at the airport but could not read the gate signs.

The humiliation stayed with her. Shortly after, she received a flyer outside a hospital promoting an adult literacy school and enrolled within months.

From there, Kim’s life transformed. She learned to read and write, completed middle and high school programs, and became the oldest test taker of South Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test.

She enrolled at Sookmyung Women’s University in 2024.

For two years, she studied social welfare while managing chronic back pain and a commute of over three hours. To make her 9 a.m. classes three times a week, she left home before dawn.

“The first few months were really hard,” she said. “I couldn’t understand what the professor was saying.”

Unable to type, Kim wrote three-page reports by hand, each one taking an entire day to complete. “It was slow work,” she said, “but I didn’t want to miss a single class.

She ate breakfast and lunch in the classroom because walking to the cafeteria was too painful.

Younger students frequently helped carry her backpack, walked her to the subway, and found her taxis after evening classes.

Textbooks were doubled, one copy for home, another for school, because carrying them was a struggle.

Through her studies, Kim discovered a deeper passion for helping others.

On February 27, 2026, with a navy cap on her head, 85-year-old Kim Jeong-ja officially graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University.

Kim now intends to pursue a 4-year degree in child welfare studies and is learning English to communicate better with grandchildren living overseas.

“I don’t know if my health will allow it, but I’ll keep holding a pencil until the day the heavens call me,” she said.