Glen Powell's Going Back to School to Make Parents Proud, Finish What He Started

Glen Powell's crushing it in Hollywood -- but he's got other priorities these days that have nothing to do with movies ... like trading a bit of the spotlight to hit the books.

We got the A-list actor outside NYC's ABC Studio Thursday -- and we asked him about his recently-revealed plans to enroll at the University of Texas at Austin ... where he'll be gunning for a degree in Radio, Television and Film.

Glen tells us he's doing this to finish what he started -- sounds like he hit the pause button on school to pursue a career in front of the camera -- but he's got other people to please too.

GP says he's gotta make his parents proud ... so he has them in mind with this pivot back to education. The good news -- he ain't gonna be there very long ... just a semester, he says, and he'll be doing his classes remotely. So yeah, nobody to mob him on campus it seems.

Glen has previously said he'll be killing two birds with one stone here -- attending classes while also filming his next movie, "The Running Man." He'll be a busy bee, to say the least.