Benjamin Bolger

Benjamin Bradley Bolger (born 1975) is an American perpetual student who has earned 17 degrees and claims to be the second-most credentialed person in modern history after Michael W. Nicholson (who has 30 degrees).

Like Nicholson, Bolger is from Michigan.

Benjamin Bolger was born to Donald, an engineer with General Motors, and Loretta, a schoolteacher, and was raised in Grand Haven, Michigan.

At the age of two, his parents were both seriously injured when the 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.

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 helps him by reading his assignments to him aloud.

Bolger entered Yale Law School when he was 19, 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.

He has also completed some coursework at Yale Law School (in 1995, towards a JD) and at Boston College's Lynch School of Education (in 2004, towards an MA in higher education).

Bolger endeavors to sleep only 4–5 hours a night.

He has two children, a daughter named Benjamina Brook and a son named Benjamin Blitz, both of whom are homeschooled.

After accumulating several master's degrees, he received his first doctorate in 2008 at the age of 33, in Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design.

He has also studied in graduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, the College of William and Mary, and Dartmouth College.

His mother accompanied and supported him through much of his education to help with his work, from Ann Arbor to Oxford.

, he is working remotely toward a 17th post-graduate degree, from Cambridge University.