Vasily Bochkaryov was born on 29 April 1949 to a peasant family in the village of Iva, in Nizhnelomovsky District of Penza Oblast, Russian SSR.

[3] In 1968 Bochkaryov completed Alatyrsk Forest Industry Technical School, then he enrolled at Maxim Gorky Mari Polytechnic Institute and graduated as a forestry engineer in 1973.

[4] In 2002 he defended his Candidate of Sociological Sciences dissertation at Modern Humanitarian Institute, titled "The Level and Quality of Life as the Object of Control (Regional Aspect)".

From 1975 to 1976 he worked as Chief Forester in Kameshkirsky District of Penza Oblast, and then headed the regional forestry workers' supply department until 1977.

[7][8] The grassroots expert community Dissernet accused Vasily Bochkarev of heavily plagiarising his Candidate of Sciences thesis.