Why has Jeb Bush's college graduation year been omitted by the media for at least 30 years now? [View all]

[anobserver2]

Last edited Mon Feb 23, 2026, 04:53 PM - Edit history (36)

When voters vote for a candidate, I think the bottom line is they vote for someone they decide they can trust.

But how does anyone trust a candidate such as Jeb Bush, when he can't seem to come up with a month and year of graduation for his college graduation for the past 17 years? (Title changed to "30" years, with addition of entry #13 today, Dec 31, 2016.)

I am referring to the following 12 (changed to 13) examples of omission in the media, from Sept 1998 (before he was elected governor for the first time) to as recently as December 2015. (Actually, from June 1986, with new entry #13)

Every other candidate who claims a college degree has a year attached to the graduation date of the degree except this candidate, Jeb Bush.

Does anyone have any explanation for this persistent material omission of a graduation year by the media for Jeb Bush?

In short, what does Jeb Bush tell the media is his month and year of college graduation?


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Example #1:

-- “Jeb was the Phi Beta
Kappa who blazed through college in under three years"

From: The Washington Examiner, “The problem with Jeb Bush is Jeb” by Noemie Emery, December 22, 2015
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-problem-with-jeb-bush-is-jeb/article/2578860

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Example #2:

-- “He graduated college in two and a half years” “

From: The Atlantic - "The Mysterious Columba Bush,”
by Hanna Rosin, June 2015

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/06/the-mysterious-columba-bush/392090/

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Example #3:

“John Ellis Bush, by
contrast, breezed through the University of Texas in 2-1/2 years"

From: The Los Angeles Times,

“Bush brothers have a complex relationship,
marked by fierce rivalry, wounded feelings,”
by Mark Z. Barabak,
June 17, 2015

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83798651/

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Example #4:

-- “Jeb Bush passed on Yale…. It took him less than three years to graduate
magna cum laudea degree in Latin American studies.”

From: The Texas Tribune, “In Texas, a Focused
Jeb Bush Stood Out From The Crowd,” by Ryan McCrimmon, March 17, 2015

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/17/jeb-bush-texas-years/

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Example #5

“[Jeb] Bush had enough problems trying to pass his courses. ...The student who once nearly flunked out said he made the honor roll in the final trimester of his senior year. ... He went instead to the University of Texas in Austin, majored in Latin American studies, graduated in an unusually speedy 2½ years, and married Columba. ..."

From: The Boston Globe, “Jeb Bush shaped by troubled Phillips Academy years,”
by Michael Kranish, Feb 1, 2015

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/02/01/tumultuous-four-years-phillips-academy-helped-shape-jeb-bush/q6ccyHNOtP1n6kqDokMBfK/story.html

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Example #6:

“Jeb Bush raced through the University of Texas in two and half (years)"

From: The New York Times, "Jeb Bush Gives Party Something Something To Think About,”
by Michael Barbaro, May 24, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/us/politics/jeb-bush-gives-party-something-to-think-about.html?_r=0

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Example #7:

-- “He graduated with a degree in Latin American Studies in just 2 1/2 years and they married soon after at UT-Austin Catholic Center in 1974"

From: POLITICO Magazine, “How Jeb Bush Schooled
the Florida Press,” by S.V. Date, April 2014

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/jeb-bush-reporters-florida-schooled-the-press-
117004

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Examples #8-#9:

“He completed his coursework in two and a half years"

From: Wikipedia, footnote #19, on Jeb Bush page,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Bush

and

Above footnote #19 from -- Page 404, Kitty Kelley's September 2004
biography of the Bushes: “The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty”

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Real-Story-Bush-Dynasty-ebook/dp/B000FC28TO/ref=sr_1_6?
s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451993147&sr=1-6&keywords=kitty+kelly+biographies

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Example #10:

-- “[Jeb] chose the University of Texas and then squeezed a four-year program into 2 years, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, just to be with her"

From: Sun Sentinel,“First Lady, First Steps” by Linda Kleindienst, Tallahassee Bureau Chief,
February 18, 1999

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1999-02-18/lifestyle/9902170447_1_columba-bush-columba-garnicagallo-
jeb-bush

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Example #11:

-- “Three years later they married... Jeb was about to graduate with a degree in Latin American Studies."

From: St. Petersburg Times, “First, ladies” by Jeanne Malmgren,
October 28, 1998

http://www.sptimes.com/Floridian/102898/First__ladies2.html

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Example #12:

“...his earliest jobs came from friends of the family. After earning his degree in Latin American studies at the University of Texas...”

From: The St Petersburg Times, “Make the Money and Run”
By Alecia Swasy and Robert Trigaux, September 20, 1998

http://www.sptimes.com/State/92098/Make_The_Money_and_Ru.html

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Note on 1/30/16 editing: The original post had 9 sources above, but Example #12 from Sept 1998 has now been added (St Pete Times), as has Example #5 from Feb 2015 (Boston Globe). Also -- the Wikipedia page footnote and Kitty Kelley book are now listed above as Examples 8-9 instead of just one example; this editing today results in a total of 12 examples.


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Example #13:


"... Jeb Bush: 'I was more concerned about graduating (from college) as soon as possible.'

He graduated in less than 2 1/2 years, Phi Beta Kappa, and got a job with the Texas Commerce Bank. Raised an Episcopalian, he became a Roman Catholic and married Columba. The bank assigned him to Venezuela for two years..."

GH Bush: "No dropout problems. And no, you know, real crises, that that generation had, at the time of the Vietnam thing. I'd expect they'd say, yeah, I've been a good father."

From: The Miami Herald's Tropic Magazine, "Family Business"
By Joel Achenbach, June 1, 1986

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/04/from-the-vault-the-definitive-early-years-jeb-bush-profile.htm

Note: The "1986" publication date of the above #13 entry means this cover-up of Jeb Bush's alleged graduation date has been going on a lot longer than "17 years" -- we're now at 30 years.

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Added to this thread June 9, 2018:

Example #14 -

...“I mastered academics after I met my wife,” Bush said. “I made the honor roll one trimester at Andover — it was the last one, which breaks all conventional wisdom.”

Bush, who finished in the second quarter of his high-school class, nonetheless arrived at the University of Texas in 1971 with enough credits to skip a year of course work...."

...Bush’s UT studies were heavy with Spanish literature and American and Latin American politics. The only C on his transcript was in “Cultural Anthropology,” in his freshman year.

From: The Miami Herald, "Long Held Values Shape Public Life of Jeb Bush" by William Yardley - "Sept 22, 2002, updated June 10, 2015"

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/jeb-bush/article23680144.html

Note: This article does not explain there was a group grade given to students who went to Mexico to build a school, so it hardly "breaks all conventional wisdom" that since he was part of that group he received the honor roll grade - as he never once made honor roll as an individual student is my understanding.

The article also omits identifying what kind of "credits" enabled him to "skip a year of course work." He wasn't an AP student. He couldn't possibly have scored high enough on CLEP tests to gain college credit after his failing high school record.

Also, the allegedly existing college transcript grades do not average out to the extremely high GPA later advertised in an alumni magazine which is posted elsewhere on this thread. (It seems like a very false ad.)

Finally, this Example #14 article claims he was a "freshman," (so he did not begin as a "sophomore" as he now claims on CNBC below). Another article claims he was a "sophomore" in the years which would correspond to that: See the Texas Tribune article - Example #4 - claiming the tennis team roster lists him as a sophomore in 1973:

"Bush was added to the 1973 (tennis team) roster, listed as a 6-1, 165-pound sophomore. He didn’t travel with the team, but tallied four singles wins, five doubles wins and zero losses."

* * *
June 2018 update

Jeb Bush is now speaking at CNBC, claiming for the first time I have seen that he began college as a "sophomore" because he passed CLEP tests in English, Math and History. I don't think he did that in light
of his failing high school record. Here is the clip:

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/06/07/jeb-bush-college-costs-freshman-year-free-program.html

Jeb Bush claiming in 2018 on CNBC he began UT as a sophomore despite the fact Entry #14 above says he was a freshman:

From CNBC, Jeb Bush: “I started as a sophomore, took all my English, Math, History as CLEP...”


He then implied AP or CLEP credits for himself in print on CNBC:

"...The program helps students study for Advanced Placement exams as well as CLEP exams, which stands for "College Level Examination Program." These tests have been administered by The College Board for over 40 years, and allow students to take inexpensive exams and earn transferable college credit in a variety of academic subjects, allowing some students to earn credits before they even step on campus. This approach allowed Bush to start at the University of Texas as a sophomore. ..."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/jeb-bush-college-still-has-value-and-should-be-more-affordable.html
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Without naming a college graduation year, there are now four different explanations as to how Jeb Bush allegedly "earned" a 4 year college degree without spending 4 years doing so:

1- the "squeezing" of the coursework reported by a 1999 newspaper above -- Example #10 -- which is not CLEP and seems more like an attempt to make the university sound like it is not on a time-based system;

2-the allegedly "enterprising" quality of Student Jeb! taking far more courses each semester and in the summers, made by a lawyer on another thread -- as though the academic department is not the one deciding when courses are offered;

3-the implied representation in Example #14 above that AP credits are being transferred in from high school -- since the name of these credits is not identified in the article; and now:

4-"CLEP" is declared by Jeb on television in the above video clip as the method by which he graduated early. (Gee, it only took 30+ years for him to come up with that word.)

I don't believe he is a college graduate. Because there are now four different explanations on how he allegedly graduated in less time than 4 years (and as his failing high school record should have resulted in remedial work in order to succeed at higher ed coursework, so that it would have taken MORE time (not less time) than 4 years for him if he ever sought a 4 year degree)

I think Jeb Bush, his parents and his wife all lied to the public for more than 30 years to deceive voters and fraudulently win votes. That is my opinion. But I think it is also fact. It is just common sense and logic. You don't fail high school, meet a girl, and then overnight become a genius. Sorry. Learning takes a little more time than that.
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Update 2/23/2026 - Related post, on Medium.com: "I Think My Vote Was Stolen"