HAYS, Kan. - Sitting on the front row in her college classes carefully taking notes, Nola Ochs is just as likely to answer questions as to ask them. That's not the only thing distinguishing her from fellow students at Fort Hays State University. She's 95, and when she graduates May 12, she'll be what is believed to be the world's oldest person to be awarded a college degree.

Nola Ochs drives through the Fort Hays State University campus after classes Monday, April 23, 2007 in Hays, Kan. At age 95, Ochs will become the world's oldest college graduate when she graduates May 12. [AP]

She didn't plan it that way. She just loved to learn as a teenager on a Hodgeman County farm, then as a teacher at a one-room school after graduating from high school and later as a farm wife and mother.

"That yearning for study was still there. I came here with no thought of it being an unusual thing at all," she said. "It was something I wanted to do. It gave me a feeling of satisfaction. I like to study and learn."

The record Ochs will break, according to Guinness World Records, belongs to Mozelle Richardson, who at age 90 in 2004 received a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma.

"We should all be so lucky and do such amazing things. Her achievement challenges us all to reach for our own goals and dreams," said Tom Nelson, AARP chief operating officer in Washington.

She's getting offers for television appearances, and reporters show up wanting to interview her. She acknowledges enjoying it.

"It brings attention to this college and this part of the state. Good people live here," she said. "And I still wear the same size hat."

But she added: "I don't dwell on my age. It might limit what I can do. As long as I have my mind and health, it's just a number."

Ochs is proudest of being the matriarch of a family that includes three sons - a fourth died in 1995 - along with 13 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

"They're all such fine boys," she said. "Our main crop is our children, and the farm is a good place to raise them."

Ochs started taking classes at Dodge City Community College after her husband of 39 years, Vernon, died in 1972. A class here and there over the years, and she was close to having enough hours for an undergraduate degree.

Last fall, Ochs moved the 100 miles from her farm southwest of Jetmore to an apartment on campus to complete the final 30 hours to get a general studies degree with an emphasis on history.

At 5-foot-2, her white hair pulled into a bun, she walks purposely down hallways to classes with her books in a cloth tote bag. Students nod and smile; she's described as witty, charming and down to earth.

"Everybody has accepted me, and I feel just like another student," she said. "The students respect me."

Coming out of a classroom, Skyla Foster, a junior majoring in history, sees Ochs and calls out to her. To everyone on campus, she's "Nola," not Mrs. Ochs - and that's the way she wants it.

"She is pretty neat, a very interesting person and very knowledgeable," Foster said.

Todd Leahy, history department chairman, wondered at first if Ochs could keep up with the other students. After her second week, all doubts were gone, as he discovered she could provide tidbits of history.

Leahy, who had Ochs in four classes, wants to record oral histories with her after she graduates.

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