As more students across the country continue to delay graduation, the status of “four-year university” seems to be turning anecdotal. “Five- or six-year university” might be a better label, say some critics.
“We don’t see a culture of students chomping at the bit to get out,” Florida State University Provost Larry Abele told the Washington Post. “We seem to be stuck.”
The trend for delaying graduation seems to be gaining in popularity. According to the Post’s statistics, only 40 percent of the 2001 senior class at UW-Madison will be graduating in four years.
Why are the rest of the students taking so long to graduate? The reasons vary.
For some, the issue is finances. As tuition and housing costs increase, many students are suddenly forced to take jobs to help pay for their education. Working several hours a week cuts into studying time, and as a result, many students are taking fewer classes so they are not overwhelmed.
Central Missouri State graduate Travis Burks said this was why it took him an extra semester to finish school.
“I took fewer credit hours because I worked full time,” he said. “I had to pay my own way through school.”
For others, the problem is the requirements needed to fulfill a major. Certain majors require a heavy course load, and to ease the strain, students are delaying some classes in order to focus more on other ones, or so they have the opportunity to take electives that they would otherwise be unable to.
Kelly Anne Thurner, a junior at University of Florida-Gainesville, says she expects to be in school at least two more years before she will be able to graduate.
“The advertising program here is incredibly tough,” Thurner said. “The courses require so much work, and in order to keep a high enough GPA to stay in the program, I have to really focus on the classes I take, so I only take a few at a time.”
UW-Madison sophomore David Taxman said he faces similar difficulties with the civil-engineering major offered here.
“You pretty much have to take summer school if you expect to graduate in four years,” Taxman said. “Each class is so demanding in its learning, and the curriculum is mapped out so [thoroughly].”
Taxman said in many programs like engineering, each concept taught is critical for the next progressive piece of material, so students may have to study a lot more and absorb more than students in other majors.
But a new report, being heard today by the UW System Board of Regents, says students are graduating in less time and with fewer credits. The report attributes this recent phenomena to increased departmental planning efforts to eliminate useless requirements and cross-list more courses.
Students who switch majors or schools halfway through college might still find themselves in need to fulfill a host of requirements for the new major or school.
“I transferred from Arizona State University,” UW senior John Levin said. “I found out that when you transfer, the credits may transfer, but they won’t count towards your major.”
Across the nation, study-abroad programs are gaining in popularity, and with this trend, students have to take extra classes upon their return because some of the classes they took abroad may not count for credit.
Still other students may be delaying graduation in order to have a little more time to have fun before entering the “real world” and getting jobs. Some of these may be delaying because they want to stay with their friends or significant others. UW graduate Cheri Rhodes said that is why her boyfriend put off graduation.
“When I was a freshman, my boyfriend Tom was a senior. When I was a senior, my boyfriend Tom was a senior,” Rhodes said. “He had no particular desire to graduate and get a job while he could still stay in school. His parents supported him until I graduated, and then we moved away together.”
The number of fifth-year seniors can affect a school’s ranking in national statistics and can overtax the system.
UW spokesman Kent Barrett said average credits students are graduating with are lower than a decade ago, though.
“We’re down to about 127 credits, on average, from 136 needed to graduate eight years ago,” Barrett said. “The target for the UW system is 135. We’re well below that.”
Some programs, such as the College for Agricultural and Life Sciences, are also trying to help students graduate in four years by helping them plan their college careers, according to CALS assistant dean Robert Ray.
“Our college has asked all the departments to put together a four-year road map of how a student could attain a degree in a four-year period,” Ray said. “At SOAR, each student is given a copy of this. It gives them a tool, something to judge progress by. We also urge talking to advisors regularly.”
UW is also offering a four-year degree guarantee for certain majors, promising students they will be either guaranteed enrollment in needed courses or provided with alternate solutions. If the student upholds the contract requirements, which stipulate certain provisions such as maintaining a 2.0 GPA, then the university will pay all tuition costs for further course requirements unmet after the four-year period.
