"I didn't get the degree because in my last year, for my thesis film I made a feature called Permanent Vacation and they'd given me a scholarship, the Louis B Mayer fellowship and they made a mistake"

This quote by Jim Jarmusch is referring to his experience in college. He was provided a scholarship, the Louis B Mayer fellowship, for his thesis film which was a function called Permanent Vacation. However, in spite of this, he did not get the degree. This suggests that the college slipped up in granting him the scholarship, as it did not lead to him getting the degree. This could mean that the college did not correctly assess the quality of his work, or that the scholarship was not adequate to cover the expense of the degree. It might also mean that the college had a change of mind and decided to revoke the scholarship, or that the college had some other issue with the movie. Whatever the case, it is clear that the college made a mistake in granting him the scholarship, as it did not result in him getting the degree.