Man Spends Life Savings to Send 33 Strangers to College for Free

Imagine saving money your whole life for the benefit of others. There are not many of us who could do that. But there sure are some. This is the case of an 86-year-old carpenter from Iowa named Dale Schroeder. He had saved his entire life only to pay the college tuition of people he had never met. Thirty-three (33) small-town Iowa students to be exact. We will reveal the admirable act of kindness in detail below.

The Memorable Case of Dale Schroeder

Schroeder was a humble and honest man. He was a carpenter who worked for the same company for 67 years. He had no wife or kids of his own and lived a simple lifestyle. People described him as “quiet and shy.”

Before his death, he contacted a lawyer and his longtime friend Steve Nielsen to talk to him about his life savings. He told him that he wanted to start a scholarship. He said to his friend, “I never got the opportunity to go to college. So, I’d like to help kids go to college.” But the amount of the savings was unimaginable to Nielsen. Out of curiosity, he decided to ask Dale about it, to which he answered:

“Oh, just shy of $3 million.”

“I nearly fell out of my chair,” Nielsen remembered.

Nielsen characterized Dale as a “blue-collar, lunch pail kind of guy.” He followed a routine of going to work every day, working diligently, and maintaining a frugal lifestyle, reflecting the values of many Iowans, as shared with CBS Des Moines affiliate KCCI-TV. Nielsen humorously remarked, “He had church jeans and work jeans.”

Despite his modest lifestyle, Schroeder’s true wealth was unveiled only after his death in 2005, surprising those who knew him. “Send small-town Iowa kids to college” were the simple instructions that he left before his death.

“Dale’s Kids” Are 33 Students

Kira Conard, one of 33 “Dale’s kids”, remembers the last day of high school when she had decided to give up on her dream of becoming a therapist. While her friends were making plans for college, she could bearly gather the courage to tell them. She was not going. Being raised by a single parent, with 3 older sisters, college was never an option for her. The cost of the college would be over 80,000 dollars and they simply could not afford it.

But her life was about to change. She remembered with joy and tears in her eyes the day she received the phone call of a lifetime. Her ticket to college was paid, all included. The voice on the other line told her that a man called Dale Schroeder was going to make her dream come true.

“I broke down into tears immediately,” she said.

The 33 students, known as “Dale’s kids”, now are doctors, teachers, therapists, and each other’s friends. They gathered in Iowa to remember Schroeder and pay tribute to his generous gesture that changed their lives. Thanks to him, they now live student loan debt-free. All they have to do, as Nielson encourages it, is to “pay it forward. You can’t pay it back, because Dale is gone, but you can remember him and you can emulate him.”

We are left in awe of Dale Schroeder’s generosity. What about you? And, what would you do with your life savings?

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