Warren Wartman

At 59 years old, liberal arts major Warren Wartman isn’t just the oldest student in his classes; he has many of his professors beat, too.

“I don’t think about it,” Wartman grins. “Denial is my friend.”

Originally from the Chicago area, Wartman attended Northern Illinois University in the mid-1980s before leaving school to work in construction. He became a licensed electrician and spent most of his adult life in the trade, eventually moving to Boston in 2004. 

But in 2021, nagging back issues forced him to rethink his career path. He decided to enroll in Middlesex Community College to pursue his longtime interest in theater.

“I always had vague aspirations of returning to school, but I never thought it would be possible in a practical sense,” says Wartman, who excelled in his studies at Middlesex and qualified for the UMass Community College Advantage Scholarship (UCCAS), which provides students with $10,000 to complete their bachelor’s degree at a UMass campus.

For Wartman, who had exhausted his lifetime allotment of Pell Grants, the scholarship was a “game changer.”

“Without that scholarship, I'm probably not in school,” says Wartman, who transferred to UML’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and chose concentrations in theatre arts and economics. 

“It’s two different world views, really,” he says. “Theater is so interpretive and subjective, and economics is on the other end of the spectrum — show me the data and the models.”

How does life as a college student in 2025 compare with 1985?

“Back then, everything was pen and paper; now, there’s Blackboard. Classes are more rigorous because professors can assign and grade more work efficiently,” he says. “There’s also more collaborative learning with a lot more group projects. And research is easier now because you have access to innumerable databases, whereas before you had to go to the library.”

Wartman lives in Lowell and likes to spend his time between classes studying at the McGauvran Center on South Campus. He has also picked up a pair of work study jobs — one putting his acting skills to use playing the role of patient for nursing students in the Donna Manning Simulation Laboratories, and the other utilizing his construction skills in the Theatre Arts Department’s set shop.

Next on his horizon: a summer study abroad trip to Cádiz, Spain.

“That’s a bucket list thing for me,” he says. “I never thought in a million years I’d get to do something like that.”

Wartman will be the oldest student on the trip, and he’s perfectly fine with that.

“I like to think I add something to the mix, but my younger classmates teach me just as much — especially about not taking myself too seriously,” he says. “I think older folks, me in particular, need to have everything squared away and be ‘right’ all the time, and younger students are a little more relaxed about that. You’re allowed to have your own particular take on things.”