<p>According to the report, several factors contribute to the lengthy time it can take to get a degree, including insufficient course offerings, work and family obligations, and the need for students to finish remedial courses.</p>
<p>"Because of the lack of state funding, we had to reduce our workload and students were on long waiting lists, so that was a big factor," said Francisco Rodriguez, the new chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.</p>
<p>Some students who couldn't get into required courses ended up taking ones they didn't need to remain eligible for financial aid, the study found. The report said the 2012-2013 graduates accumulated more than 78 credits — almost a third more than required. Those who enrolled in remedial courses took an additional 20 credits before earning their degrees.</p>
<p>The study also looked at students who earned a bachelor's degree from a Cal State campus during the 2011-12 academic year. That median student took 4.7 years to reach that goal.</p>
<p>Perhaps more interesting would be to know how that changed during better/worse budget years. I would not be surprised if the 2012-2013 results were close to the worst case, since they involved students attending during the economic downturn when the state cut budgets.</p>
<p>But there is also an expected background level of slow progressors to graduation or transfer, due to those attending part time, and those who need to start in remedial courses.</p>
<p>I think the 2012/2013 year was awful for class selection. I checked out the class selection list at our local CC that year and was surprised that there were few afternoon classes. It looked like they pretty much shut down at 1 until 6 when evening classes began. Class available lists for school year 2013/14 (and fall 2014) were completely different. Lots of classes were available in all time slots throughout the entire day. </p>
<p>But, yeah, not surprising that it takes 4 years to complete for many students. That’s fairly typical for many of the kids from D’s CC who are working 20+ hours per week in addition to attending CC part time (and they seem to be limiting themselves to taking 3 classes per semester). I think some would be eligible to transfer out after 3-1/2 years. Being a part time student, they can’t take advantage of priority registration (which at her CC requires being a full time degree seeking student with a student education plan and in good academic standing), so are always low in priority for class selection. </p>
<p>And about kids graduating CC with 78 units, I can see that easily happening for all the reasons the article stated, plus changing majors or not fully understanding some of the transfer process until they have attended CC for a while (i.e. understanding which are CSU or UC transfer classes, AA-T, using assist.com, honors programs, TAG, TAP, etc). </p>
<p>My daughter will complete her major and general ed. requirements within 2 years with 69 units. She plans to stay an additional 6 months at CC (I really don’t know why….) and do a mid-year transfer (at which point she will have 84 units). </p>
<p>Mid-year (spring) transfer has some disadvantages in that many of the four year campuses do not accept spring applicants (although some UCs admit some fall applicants to start in the spring), and those campuses that do may have higher admission thresholds for spring applicants due to fewer spaces available.</p>
<p>^ True about the UC’s. D’s in contact with the college she wants to transfer to and there will be no problem with a spring transfer (if admitted). SF State (local priority area/admission, non impacted major) is her back up, along with possibly a local private school with rolling admission. I don’t know if she’s planning to apply to any others. She hates the application process, spring admit puts it off until next summer/early fall (instead of this fall). I’d rather it be done and over! To be honest, she really likes her CC and would attend there all four years if possible. </p>