The phrase, “time is money” is all too true for college students, especially to those who don’t get a degree in four years. All incoming students at colleges across the nation believe that they will get a degree “on-time”, but this is not always the case: only about 40 percent of students manage to pull it off according to the National Center for Education Statistics, resulting in spending “more for less” on their degrees. The four- year standard is based on a student with a stable, school-oriented lifestyle, which isn’t a possibility for all. Most students have to work through college and life is bound to throw countless surprises at you over the course of four years. These surprises can include missing weeks of school for sickness, injury recovery or family tragedy.
According to Liz Freedman of Butler University, around 75 percent of college students change their major at least once, lessening their chances at graduating “on-time.” The government now even bases “on-time” graduation on a six-year standard. This is evidence to why we should stop trying to force the idea of a four-year degree.
The biggest problem is why students aren’t finishing on time. According to Dr. Fritz Grupe of MyMajors.Com, about 50 percent of students who try to get a head start by declaring their major before entering college, change it, sometimes more than once. This sets students behind and leaves them with a lot of catching up to do. Switching majors is a common, and necessary step in college that can set some back. At DU we have the quarter system, where each quarter credit class transfers to about .67 of a semester credit. We are able to take more classes, but this does not guarantee a four-year graduation, as the courses are often more challenging and concentrated. Each quarter is only 10 weeks of classes, this does not allow much room for catching up if you fall behind. The transition for students from a semester high school system to the quarter system is hard. While switching majors at DU is easier because there is more space for classes and interterm opportunities, the trade off is that the courses are shorter, having as little as 19 class meetings throughout the quarter, this is a challenge for many students who need to miss class. Missing class even once can take a toll on your final grade.
There are steps that students can take to help avoid the prolonged degree time: to start, talk to your professors and advisors, be honest about your situation and see if take-home assignments or online work is something that will work for both of you. See if summer or winter interterms offered by DU can relieve some of the added time.
However, there are a large variety of reasons why a student may not finish in four years and solutions like take-home work won’t remedy all of them. DU itself could start by counseling students during the summer on what their proposed major would be like, or what they should choose, giving students a head start and an idea of what each major would be like. It is time that we stopped enforcing the stereotype of a four-year degree and stopped forcing students to choose between life or school.
