Holmes did succeed academically as an undergraduate at the University of California at Riverside, graduating with honors in a neuroscience program that is considered very demanding. He then won a spot at the prestigious neuroscience doctoral program at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus.
Holmes was in his first year as a graduate student, living off a $26,000-a-year stipend — part federal grant, part university funding. In keeping with those modest means, he rented an 800-square-foot (74-square-metre) apartment in a scruffy neighborhood a short walk from the medical campus.
But he recently quit the program. A person who works in the neuroscience lab said Holmes did not join the other doctoral students at an end-of-the-year celebration in a local pub. Instead, a professor stopped by the impromptu party to tell everyone that Holmes had withdrawn from the program, with the clear implication that he had fallen behind academically, this source said.
The university declined to release his academic records, citing privacy rules.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/23/usa-shooting-denver-profile-idUSL2E8IM7IE20120723
bump
This seems to be very pertinent to not have received much press attention.
Provides motive and timeline. Weapons being bought about the same time as the withdrawing from his fellowship due to academic pressure.