This year, more than half of the University of Minnesota’s freshman class signed a contract to join the university’s Four-Year Graduation Plan. Under the contract, students are guaranteed the classes they need in order to graduate in four years, and if not, the university pays for any extra time spent there.

The plan has been in place since the fall of 1996 and has always been popular with students, according to university administrators.

U of M administrative professional Laurel Carroll said the program was started in order to keep students on the right track.

“This is thought to be one way to help students graduate in a timely fashion,” Carroll said.

In order to be eligible for the program, students must sign a contract before the first day of classes of their first semester freshman year, have all high-school requirements completed, major in a program that can be completed in four years and qualify for the appropriate courses needed for the major.

Students who are undecided about their major are also eligible for the plan but must declare a major by the end of their second year.

If a student needs a class to graduate and it is unavailable, the university will then either approve a substitute class that is available to the student or pay the tuition for the extra time the student needs to stay on campus in order to complete their degree.

“We are working on access,” Carroll said. “We are trying to make sure students are getting into the courses that they need, which is the main purpose of the plan.”

Carroll also said the university is successful in getting students into the courses they need, although not necessarily at the times they would prefer.

Participants must also maintain a GPA of 2.0, as well as keep in good academic standing with their department. Students participating in the plan must also complete at least 15 credits per semester.

If students fail to do any of these, they may be disqualified from the program, although many U of M students can take summer sessions in order to keep up with the plan.

The University of Wisconsin, like many colleges nationwide, has a similar plan.

However, as UW spokesman John Lucas noted, most students on campus are unaware of this policy, and the number of participants is drastically lower than U of M’s enrollment.

Compared to U of M, where consistently more than half of every freshman class participate, only 29 UW students were involved in the program in the fall of 1998, according to an article published in Wisconsin Week.

Lucas said the low numbers have been attributed to the fact that the guidelines for the UW plan are much stricter, and most students graduate in a respectable amount of time as it is.

Under UW’s plan, students must meet with advisors every semester, take classes whenever they are available — even nights and weekends — and may find it nearly impossible to stick to the plan if a course is dropped or failed or if they decide to change their majors, Lucas said.

Even with the low numbers of students in the plan, the average amount of time it takes a student to get a degree from UW has not changed over time, Lucas said. On average, it takes UW students four and a half years to graduate.

For example, 46 percent of students earn their bachelor’s degree in four years, and 44 percent earn degrees in five years.

Many of UW’s programs are five-year programs, such as education, which is why the number of five-year graduates is high, Lucas said.