Joseph Duggar is done with college after one year away from home. He was the first member of the Duggar family to attend a brick-and-mortar school, but it looks like Joseph wasn’t allowed to step outside his father’s umbrella of protection for long.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar celebrated Joseph Duggar’s birthday in the usual way by sharing a Facebook post about him, which is really meant to serve as a family update for their fans – Joseph is back home, so his parents don’t need to use the internet to wish him a happy birthday. In their message, Joseph’s parents revealed that he’s officially finished with college and is now working for Jim Bob’s real estate business.

“21 years ago on a cold January day God gave us a sweet mellow baby boy, named Joseph, to warm our hearts and bring great joy to our family with his bright smile,” the Duggars wrote.

“Joseph just completed a year at Crown Bible College and is now back working with the Duggar family business doing construction. He now plans to acquire his real estate license and his CDL license.”

Joseph Duggar is 21 and done with college (Image via Duggar Family Official Facebook)

Joseph Duggar was attending The Crown College of the Bible in Powell, Tennessee, which isn’t far from the home of the Duggars’ good friends, the Bates family. As The Inquisitr previously reported, there have been persistent rumors that Joseph is courting either Carlin Bates or Tori Bates, the latter of whom is also a Crown student. There’s a possibility that Joseph decided to quit school after his attempt to woo one of the Bates girls failed, or maybe he simply decided that he’d rather join the family business instead of pursuing his own career path.

There’s also another possibility – perhaps Joseph Duggar only intended on staying in school for one year to begin with. According to the Crown College catalogue, the school does offer a one-year program that allows students to earn something called the “Foundation for Christian Life Certificate.”

“The Foundation for Christian Life certificate program may be completed in two semesters. It includes key Bible classes and other courses designed to give students a foundation of Bible knowledge and training,” the program’s description reads. “Students who complete the Foundation for Christian Life certificate program will be able to: • Demonstrate a working knowledge of the Scriptures and of Bible doctrine • Apply basic principles of interpretation in Bible study • Employ biblical methods of evangelism & discipleship within local church ministries.”

If Joseph Duggar was enrolled in this program, some of his courses included Bible Geography, Personal Evangelism, Introduction to Missions, Living the Christian Life, and Creation Science.

At the time Joseph started school at Crown, the Duggars were still filming 19 Kids and Counting. It’s possible that Jim Bob and Michelle finally decided to let a child leave home for college because they thought doing so would make a great storyline for their reality show, but the self-professed penny-pinchers attempted to spend as little as possible on Joseph’s schooling by enrolling him in the shortest, least-expensive program that Crown has to offer. Or maybe they hoped that Joseph would be engaged to a Bates girl by the end of his second semester.

Joseph Duggar rejoins an ever-growing number of college-aged or older Duggar children who are living at home with their parents: 26-year-old twins Jana and John-David, 22-year-old Jinger, and 19-year-old Josiah. The Duggars may also have to temporarily house 27-year-old Josh Duggar after completes his stint at a faith-based facility in Illinois. As E! News reports, Josh and Anna Duggar left their home in Washington, D.C. after Josh’s sexual molestation scandal led to the eldest Duggar son losing his job with the Family Research Council. Anna is currently living in the girls’ dorm at Jim Bob and Michelle’s house, so she and Josh seemingly don’t own their own home at this time.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia on Josh that concerns college: Even though Josh has never attended one, he once tweeted that he was on Ecclesia College’s Board of Regents.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar will not outright say that their kids cannot attend secular colleges, but they’ve dropped hints that they’re against this. According to the Duggar Family Blog, they tell their kids that “life is a classroom” and encourage them to take online courses through the Christian CollegePlus! program instead of leaving home for school. The Duggars’ aversion to secular college obviously has a lot to do with their strict religious beliefs, but it’s also possible that they don’t want to pay college tuition for 19 kids—or 10 kids, if you only count the boys.

Some Duggar fans want Jana Duggar to go to college (Image via Duggar Family Official/Facebook)

According to the International Business Times, many Duggar fans wish that Jana Duggar, the oldest Duggar daughter, would become the first female Duggar to leave home for college instead of living with her parents until she gets married. However, Jana’s younger siblings might be a lot safer with her and Joseph around. In a TLC post aimed at playing up her older kids’ non-college pursuits, Michelle Duggar shared a scary story about the time Jana and Joseph had to use one of the skills that they learned by volunteering with the local fire department.

“You never know when you’re going to need those skills to save a life. They’ve already come in handy. The other day, one of my little kids got something caught in their throat, and the first two that came to the rescue were Joseph and Jana. I wasn’t close and was running to get there when I heard the child choking. When I got there, they were already doing the Heimlich maneuver. And I thought, ‘Praise God they’ve got those skills.'”

Incidents like this might be why “Cinderella Duggar” has remained at home as a sister mom. Do you think her parents would ever offer her the one-year Christian college experience that they blessed Joseph Duggar with?

[Image via Duggar Family Official Facebook]