Shannon
01-18-2008, 11:09 AM
Did anyone else take longer than the traditional 4-years? I took a year away from my engineering studies to study abroad, making my college years five. But boy did I pay for it financially. This is an interesting article that talks about why so many students are taking their time about finishing it up.
College: The New Four- Six-Year Degree
by David S. Eisen
If a student's formative years are spent in grammar school, then college is a time to exercise independence and--parents hope--choose a career path. But these days, a sizable amount of college students are taking as long to attain a college degree as it takes to jump from grammar school to junior high.
The four-year degree is largely a thing of the past. According to a 2006 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, less than 35 percent of students at "four-year colleges" are able to complete their bachelor's degree in four years or fewer. But most do graduate--more than 56 percent eventually get their B.A. within six years. The data was culled from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which captured graduation rates of full-time undergraduate students beginning in 1998 from more than 6,500 institutions.
At first glance, many might assume that students lack the motivation to graduate in four years. While Zola Dincin Schneider, a college counselor who heads The College Advisory Service in Chevy Chase, Maryland, admits that some students may have a lower drive to finish on time, many other variables can contribute to a five- or six-year undergrad career.
"At many schools, often large universities, there are many distributive requirements needed for graduation that students aren't able to fulfill," Schneider says. Often at the root of this is class oversaturation, she adds. "Classes get filled to the max and students have to wait to enroll--sometimes for even another cycle. Many courses don't have enough classes scheduled, or enough professors to go around."
Other reasons why this is happening? Penn State University, where students take an average of four and a half years to graduate, attributes the lengthened college stay to the school's co-op programs (students work half the time and take courses the other half), increasing popularity of double majors, and the propensity of students to take a semester off to work.
Pulling double duty
For Ryan Neff, financial hardship, combined with indecision, led him to taking more than five years to graduate.
"I switched majors three times," Neff recalls. Yet, above all else, Neff and many others have had to bear the sole responsibility of paying for their education. Neff had to work while in school, which prevented him from meeting the necessary credit requirements to graduate on time.
Mary Ann Swain, provost at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton, has seen a growing shift in the length of time it takes for a student to graduate due to many of the same factors Neff faced.
"As the cost of an education has shifted from state-tax support to family contributions, it now takes more hours of work to provide the same proportion of the costs of one's education," she affirms. "Students who are working to support their college degrees seem to be carrying fewer credits per semester than before, and are working more hours. Thus, their college careers are lengthened."
The maturity gap
Another factor, over which students have more control, is completing enough credits per semester (most experts recommend at least 15) to graduate on time. In other words, if a student wants to graduate in just four years, there's little wiggle room built in for failing, having to retake courses, or taking 12-credit-or-less semesters.
Norman Arguello, a self-professed socializer, has no trouble admitting he enjoyed himself too much in school. "It took me longer than four years to graduate college for many reasons," he explains. "First was lack of maturity and lack of discipline. When I first went off to school, I made my social life the most important factor while I was there."
Arguello, now a University of Kentucky (UK) graduate, was awarded a scholarship to attend Denison University in Granville, Ohio, but transferred to UK, which, he says, made it even more difficult to graduate in four years because he took a year off to make the transition.
Like many young people in college, Arguello was distracted from his studies by the vices that abound on college campuses. "I procrastinated," he said. "I always thought, 'If I don't go to that fraternity party we're hosting, I will be missing out on a good time.'"
Offering incentives
While reasons for the longer stints at college vary, colleges and universities are working hard to make improvements so that lagging students aren't using up the space that can be given to new enrollments. At the University of Connecticut's (UConn) Storrs campus, only about 50 percent of students graduate in four years or fewer. To improve those numbers, UConn launched the Finish in Four initiative in 2004 to ensure that courses were available to students who needed to take them, as well as to improve and increase communication between students and advisers to keep them on track.
The University of Minnesota is sending a similar message to freshmen. The 2006 incoming class received an envelope containing a tassel that carried the 2010 date. President Robert Bruininks says the gift is a reminder for students to stay focused. To date, barely 37 percent of University of Minnesota students receive a diploma within four years--a low percentage, but on par with the national average.
Time is money
So what's the real harm in staying in school longer than four years? For one thing, it can get expensive. Consider students at SUNY-Binghamton: A New York State resident's tuition as of the 2006-07 school year was $4,350. Of course, that is without other expenses such as books and room and board. All told, a New York State student could end up shelling out more than $16,000 per year. Out-of-state students pay almost $7,000 more.
But students can combat the increasing trend of overdue graduation. If finances are the problem holding a student back, then SUNY-Binghamton's Swain encourages students to work closely with the advising and campus financial aid offices. "Advisers can help students work out class schedules that fit with jobs and other responsibilities," she says. "Often, these professionals are able to help students work with faculty if a student needs to get into a particular class that might be closed."
Financial-aid officers can also guide students toward outside sources of financial aid or even work opportunities on campus, which afford more flexibility than off-campus jobs. Finally, Swain says, students need to rely on themselves and learn time-management techniques, which will help them keep up with their coursework and avoid incompletes. "Such a situation creates additional stress," she says. And that lack of success, she says, may result in a prolonged stay at college, or even worse--dropping out.
College: The New Four- Six-Year Degree
by David S. Eisen
If a student's formative years are spent in grammar school, then college is a time to exercise independence and--parents hope--choose a career path. But these days, a sizable amount of college students are taking as long to attain a college degree as it takes to jump from grammar school to junior high.
The four-year degree is largely a thing of the past. According to a 2006 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, less than 35 percent of students at "four-year colleges" are able to complete their bachelor's degree in four years or fewer. But most do graduate--more than 56 percent eventually get their B.A. within six years. The data was culled from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which captured graduation rates of full-time undergraduate students beginning in 1998 from more than 6,500 institutions.
At first glance, many might assume that students lack the motivation to graduate in four years. While Zola Dincin Schneider, a college counselor who heads The College Advisory Service in Chevy Chase, Maryland, admits that some students may have a lower drive to finish on time, many other variables can contribute to a five- or six-year undergrad career.
"At many schools, often large universities, there are many distributive requirements needed for graduation that students aren't able to fulfill," Schneider says. Often at the root of this is class oversaturation, she adds. "Classes get filled to the max and students have to wait to enroll--sometimes for even another cycle. Many courses don't have enough classes scheduled, or enough professors to go around."
Other reasons why this is happening? Penn State University, where students take an average of four and a half years to graduate, attributes the lengthened college stay to the school's co-op programs (students work half the time and take courses the other half), increasing popularity of double majors, and the propensity of students to take a semester off to work.
Pulling double duty
For Ryan Neff, financial hardship, combined with indecision, led him to taking more than five years to graduate.
"I switched majors three times," Neff recalls. Yet, above all else, Neff and many others have had to bear the sole responsibility of paying for their education. Neff had to work while in school, which prevented him from meeting the necessary credit requirements to graduate on time.
Mary Ann Swain, provost at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton, has seen a growing shift in the length of time it takes for a student to graduate due to many of the same factors Neff faced.
"As the cost of an education has shifted from state-tax support to family contributions, it now takes more hours of work to provide the same proportion of the costs of one's education," she affirms. "Students who are working to support their college degrees seem to be carrying fewer credits per semester than before, and are working more hours. Thus, their college careers are lengthened."
The maturity gap
Another factor, over which students have more control, is completing enough credits per semester (most experts recommend at least 15) to graduate on time. In other words, if a student wants to graduate in just four years, there's little wiggle room built in for failing, having to retake courses, or taking 12-credit-or-less semesters.
Norman Arguello, a self-professed socializer, has no trouble admitting he enjoyed himself too much in school. "It took me longer than four years to graduate college for many reasons," he explains. "First was lack of maturity and lack of discipline. When I first went off to school, I made my social life the most important factor while I was there."
Arguello, now a University of Kentucky (UK) graduate, was awarded a scholarship to attend Denison University in Granville, Ohio, but transferred to UK, which, he says, made it even more difficult to graduate in four years because he took a year off to make the transition.
Like many young people in college, Arguello was distracted from his studies by the vices that abound on college campuses. "I procrastinated," he said. "I always thought, 'If I don't go to that fraternity party we're hosting, I will be missing out on a good time.'"
Offering incentives
While reasons for the longer stints at college vary, colleges and universities are working hard to make improvements so that lagging students aren't using up the space that can be given to new enrollments. At the University of Connecticut's (UConn) Storrs campus, only about 50 percent of students graduate in four years or fewer. To improve those numbers, UConn launched the Finish in Four initiative in 2004 to ensure that courses were available to students who needed to take them, as well as to improve and increase communication between students and advisers to keep them on track.
The University of Minnesota is sending a similar message to freshmen. The 2006 incoming class received an envelope containing a tassel that carried the 2010 date. President Robert Bruininks says the gift is a reminder for students to stay focused. To date, barely 37 percent of University of Minnesota students receive a diploma within four years--a low percentage, but on par with the national average.
Time is money
So what's the real harm in staying in school longer than four years? For one thing, it can get expensive. Consider students at SUNY-Binghamton: A New York State resident's tuition as of the 2006-07 school year was $4,350. Of course, that is without other expenses such as books and room and board. All told, a New York State student could end up shelling out more than $16,000 per year. Out-of-state students pay almost $7,000 more.
But students can combat the increasing trend of overdue graduation. If finances are the problem holding a student back, then SUNY-Binghamton's Swain encourages students to work closely with the advising and campus financial aid offices. "Advisers can help students work out class schedules that fit with jobs and other responsibilities," she says. "Often, these professionals are able to help students work with faculty if a student needs to get into a particular class that might be closed."
Financial-aid officers can also guide students toward outside sources of financial aid or even work opportunities on campus, which afford more flexibility than off-campus jobs. Finally, Swain says, students need to rely on themselves and learn time-management techniques, which will help them keep up with their coursework and avoid incompletes. "Such a situation creates additional stress," she says. And that lack of success, she says, may result in a prolonged stay at college, or even worse--dropping out.