CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- An 82-year-old woman graduated from Harvard University on Thursday.

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that it took Betty McNeil nine years to get her degree.

McNeil made many pledges in her life. One was to her family -- that she would get her college degree before her grandchildren. On Thursday, she fulfilled that promise.

"She used to say, 'I'm going to have my degree before I'm 83.' We'd say, 'Ma, that would be enough,'" McNeil's son, Lou McNeil, said.

McNeil not only received a bachelor's in liberal arts from the Harvard Extension School, but she won an award recognizing academic achievement and character.

A 25-year employee of the Harvard University's Health Services Department, she retired last year but continued her commute to Harvard to finish her degree.

"I never felt that I was the oldest one in the class. I fit in with everybody," McNeil said.

McNeil has taken classes at the school for more than two decades, but she began earning a degree nine years ago. She loved her psychology and Spanish classes. In many ways, she said she was no different from her classmates.

"Well, I'm a procrastinator. Actually, I wrote my essay on procrastination and turned it in about 30 minutes before it was due. That's my biggest weakness," she said.

McNeil has some advice to other octogenarian's thinking of following her footsteps.

"Just do it. Just get out here and do it," she said.