In a rare show of hope and commitment, an Oregon man who dropped out of college just a few days away from graduation in 1932 has finally earned his degree after reaching the age of 99.

Leo Plass of Redmond received his diploma a few days ago from Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, a KTVZ-TV report said.

Plass says he was less than one semester away from graduating from what was then called Eastern Oregon Normal School and starting a career as a teacher.

It was the Depression, and a teaching salary of $80 a month that made him drop out of the college and heed a friend's advise to join a logging outfit at $150 a month, Plass said, according to an AP report.