David Carter is a panhandler that once attended the University of Texas Austin, but fell on hard times in the past and had to eventually drop out. Now, his days consist of staying outside the campus and greeting all the students that come in an out, “Hello, my friend!”
Now 67 years old, Carter was a student of the university from 1972 to 1975 as an art major. He got into a car crash that turned his life for the worse. He told CBS affiliate KEYE-TV about it: “I had a skull fracture, a broken pelvis and a broken jaw.”
Struggling with his major life changes, he faced mental health challenges and had trouble with substance abuse which led him to drop out of college before graduating. “If I could change one thing about my past life, I would have stayed in school,” Carter said. He now knows that having an education can make or break someone’s quality of life and future.
In the last few years, he has resorted to begging for money outside the University for the simple reason of never having enough money. While most of the students just walk past Carter, one student had the conscience to stop and actually talk to him and hear him; and this student learned something valuable that day: Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Ryan Chandler, a junior in the university told KEYE-TV: “A lot of UT students see them as criminal vagrants or stereotype them as dangerous or unfriendly, and that stereotype just isn’t true.”
Once Chandler got to know Carter better, he saw his true potential as a student. “He completed 87 hours of course credit, which is enough for a degree for most people, but he just never finished,” Chandler said.
This good samaritan wrote a blog post about his new friend and luckily for Carter, the right people read the blog and offered their help so he could go back to school and finish his degree.
The University of Texas readmitted Carter as a student, after 40 years since he dropped out and his first day of class was on June 6. “I want to be a student and I want to learn,” Carter said.
Thanks to an anonymous alumnus who selflessly paid for Carter’s tuition, he was able to get a second chance at making something of himself, KEYE-TV reported.
Since the university’s requirements have changed in the last 40 years, Carter will need to enroll in more subjects to get his degree, but his friend knows that he is definitely up to the challenge. “He is capable, he is ready, and he is dedicated to do this,” Chandler said.
While his days still consists of greeting the students – “Hello, my friend!” – this time, he’s doing it inside the classrooms.
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