Benjamin Bolger


Benjamin Bradley Bolger is a perpetual student who has earned 14 degrees and claims to be the second-most credentialed person in modern history after Michael W. Nicholson. Like Nicholson, Bolger hails from Michigan.

Biography

Bolger was born to Donald Bolger, an engineer with General Motors, and Loretta, a teacher. At the age of two, his family was involved in a near-fatal car accident caused by a drunk driver; Bolger says this encouraged him to make the most out of his life. In first grade, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Special education programs did not help him, and in fourth grade, his mother began home-schooling Bolger, while undergoing a divorce. At the age of 12, Bolger began taking classes at Muskegon Community College, graduating with an A.A. by the age of 17. He then transferred with those credits to the University of Michigan, majored in sociology, and graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade point average in sociology. From there, he took an internship with the Clinton Administration with Press Secretary Mike McCurry. Bolger's mother has moved with him to each college and university he attended and reads his assignments to him aloud.
At the age of 19, he entered Yale Law School, but dropped out when he was unable to compensate for his dyslexia. After receiving additional training for his dyslexia, he enrolled at Oxford University, thus beginning his quest for degrees. After accumulating many master's degrees, he received his first doctorate at the age of 33 in Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2008. He states that he has also studied in graduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, the College of William and Mary, the George Washington University, Ithaca College, and Cornell University. His mother accompanied him through much of his education to help with his work, from Ann Arbor to Oxford.

Degrees

He has also completed some coursework at Yale Law School and at Boston College's Lynch School of Education.