I guess you could call me a cyclical student. I got my BA at 20, my first MA at 40, and now that I’m almost 60, I’m about to finish my 2nd MA. First MA took me 3 years doing it part-time, 2nd will have taken me 4 years doing it part-time. I suppose this means if I live to be 76 or more, I’ll be working on MA #3 or a PhD.
We thought a friend of mine was going to go this route. He made it thru medical school but discovered shortly into his residency that he couldn’t handle patients dying. He went back to school and studied Journalism, and found that getting a steady gig was very difficult, so went back again to become a lawyer. He was almost done with law school in his mid-30s when we lost touch, having been in school since he was 18.
Actually, this thread prompted me to Google him. Yep, he’s a lawyer now.
It wasn’t that long ago that this was a viable career choice. It wasn’t hard for a good student to get grants, scholarships, bursaries, etc. You live off those. Not so much these days though.
Boy if I could get somebody to fund it that would be my preferred way of life. Love school, love learning, love that kind of writing, happy to do lab work. I don’t even mind teaching as a grad assistant.
We thought a friend of mine was going to go this route. He made it thru medical school but discovered shortly into his residency that he couldn’t handle patients dying. He went back to school and studied Journalism, and found that getting a steady gig was very difficult, so went back again to become a lawyer. He was almost done with law school in his mid-30s when we lost touch, having been in school since he was 18.
Actually, this thread prompted me to Google him. Yep, he’s a lawyer now.
Still? Almost 2 whole hours later and he hasn’t changed careers yet again? What a rut! 
Weird. I refreshed the page and it posted again - I’d have thought the board would catch the double post, but then again, I didn’t. 
I wouldn’t mind being a perpetual student, but it does take some effort to pull off. At some point, life usually interferes and draws you off into another direction. Or at least it did for me.
A fellow student of German back at my undergrad uni in West Texas was ultimately a Russian major. Before I finally lost track of her, she’d spent 20 years as a grad student, working as a TA, teaching the lower-level Russian classes, never becoming a full employee of the university with all the benefits. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she’s still there.
At the U of Hawaii, there seemed to be an unusual number of seven-year-plus graduate-level geology students. The professors really relied on them.
I was at my school for 8 years, working on two degrees, while I world full time on 3rd shift. Took advantage of tax refunds, my hefty jury duty pay, and salary to start; by the time my Hope Tax credit ran out, there was a special emergency relief tax credit in my county where I got to deduct all me rent, food and utility costs, tuition and books where it counted as a full tax credit with the IRS. Nice windfall there. Then I began landing hefty scholarships from both my degree programs as well as salary for “mentoring” 20 hours a week. And still working that 40-hour 3rd job. Wore me out.
End result?
BS in mathematics from Purdue, 4.0. BS in philosophy from IU, 4.0. And not debt, in fact a decent profit.