If he had still been enrolled in courses, it’d be pretty hard to tell whether or not he was “close” to completing the degree. But when he hadn’t even been enrolled at the school for 7 years... it’s like, yeah, this is just more Walz b-lls—t. The chances of anyone absent from a program that long returning and finishing are near zero.
This happens with many doctoral students. They usually claim ABD status which means all but dissertation.
Dissertations often take years of work after the actual coursework is completed. A high percentage of students never complete the dissertation.
It was common to get a full time tenure track job as a professor while ABD and then finish later while teaching.
I was only 26 years old and still working on my graduate degree when I became a full time professor. I too never finished the degree as there were plenty of jobs and I was in a high demand specialty.
WALTZ IS A LIAR.
I immediately realized my mistake but then realized that that works too!
Would not be surprised.