A 13-year-old boy from Minnesota will soon earn his bachelor's degree from college - with a major in physics and a minor in math - and has been accepted into the University of Minnesota's Physics PhD program.
Now his parents are trying to figure out how to pay for it.
Elliott Tanner, known as a profoundly gifted child, is maintaining a 3.78 grade point average at the University of Minnesota and is participating in undergraduate research while also tutoring classmates.
He wants to be a high-energy theoretical physicist and eventually a professor of physics at the university, however, tuition costs for the graduate program have been an obstacle, his mother, Michelle Tanner, said.
Even as an in-state resident, Elliott's family will have to pay a total of about $40,600 for the fall and spring semesters, or roughly $20,300 per semester, according to the OneStop university website.
'We're just trying to explore all our options, and coming up with dead ends,' Michelle said.
'Trying to apply for any scholarships, fellowships, grants, and we have not been successful.'
'We were shocked to discover the university did not extend a financial package to Elliott,' she added.
'Only 3 percent of incoming physics PhD students in the US do not receive a tuition waiver and/or financial package, so we never imagined that we would be scrambling to fund Elliott’s education at 13 years old.'
The parents launched a GoFundMe for Elliott's graduate school tuition that has already raised $25,059 out of $44,000 goal as of Sunday.
On Friday, his mother said the family had reached its goal to fund his first year in the school's graduate program.
'I have an incredible passion for physics,' Elliot said of his career path.
'It's been one of my favorite things to do.'
Elliott's mom said he started reading and doing math by age 3.
Following a few years of homeschooling and a high school curriculum that took him two years to complete, he began taking college classes when he was 9.
'People who hear Elliott's story say he doesn't get to be a kid, or he grew up too fast,' Michelle said.
'He still very much is a kid and the only difference is he goes to school in a different building.'
Elliott will formally graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Minor in Mathematics on May 12, 2022.
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