Hello! I’ve never created a new topic before, so fingers crossed that I’m doing this right.
I’m wondering if anyone has had a student enter an engineering (or other rigorous) program, knowing going in that they were going to need to spread out the courses over a longer time period. In this case, taking less classes each academic term over 5 or 6 years, instead of a heavier course load over 4 years.
The extension is likely going to be needed due to medical considerations, so it’s not really negotiable. Kid is completely capable of getting to the finish line, it just is going to take a little longer to get there.
If you have done this or plan on doing this, what kind of things are important to ask the school or consider up-front? What potential pitfalls should the kid be aware of? Is it important to try to get in the minimum number of credits each semester to continue as a FT student or is it okay to drop-down to PT student some semesters, as needed?
Thanks for sharing any advice and wisdom, and wishing all your families a very happy and healthy year ahead.
Full time minimum for financial aid purposes is 12 credits per term, which would lead to graduation in 10 semesters (or more if a major requiring more than 120 credits). Colleges may also have their own policies on full versus part time enrollment. Colleges catering to commuter and non traditional students tend to be more flexible with part time enrollment. If starting at a community college and finishing at a regional public is doable, that may be an option.
Sequenced prerequisites must be planned carefully, especially if courses are not offered every semester.
I would also look at housing. University housing may require FT enrollment. One risk that you need to understand is if you need to remain a FT student for some reason, the ability to drop a class may be impacted.
we looked at having our daughter do part time (she’s on her 5th year) but: FA - her subsidized loan would have been less and there were a few insurance things that changed not being full time at 23 yrs old. Also, several department scholarship opps through her school weren’t available to part timers. So she added two fun 1 hr classes to stay full time.
but seriously - slow and steady wins the race! Good luck to him!
PS my DH graduated at age 21 with an engineering degree. for years afterwards he was kicking himself for doing that.
For my daughter (engineer), she had to get done in 8 semesters because of scholarships and financial aid. Those were really big issues for us ($$$). Her degree required 131 credits, so she was taking many more than 12 per semester to get done in 8 semesters.
Someone mentioned above if one starts the semester with 12 credits, no room to drop a class and stay full time. I think my daughter dropped 2 classes over the years, but was going from 17 to 14, and then she had to make those up in other semesters.
Financial aid and scholarships may require full time, and may run out after 8 semesters.
Housing preferences, course registration may go to full time students. Even parking permits.
A friend’s son is in engineering. He had a bad sophomore year and had to repeat some course, so they decided on a new 5 year plan. He has to take 12 credits to keep his scholarship, so added some ‘filler’ classes he thought would be easier than just engineering classes. Turns out they weren’t the easy A’s he thought they would be. Many engineers find engineering courses easier than history or English courses.
I also want to stress ucbalumnus’ comment about course sequencing. Even at large universities, courses aren’t offered every semester so your student will need to work very closely with their faculty advisor, especially as they get further into their major. Definitely something to work through up front.
Generally, when deciding which courses to prioritize during each semester’s selection, the order is something like this:
Courses in critical prerequisite sequences, requirements that must be finished early (e.g. “English composition must be completed in first year”), or requirements that are heavily constrained (e.g. only one course fulfills the requirement, and it is offered only once every two years).
Requirements that are moderately constrained (e.g. several options to fulfill the requirement, perhaps some more preferable than others, but some of which tend to get full).
Requirements that are less constrained (e.g. a general education requirement that can be fulfilled by dozens of courses that never get full and are offered every semester).
Free electives.
Basically, the student wants to avoid the situation where they planned N more semesters but has a remaining prerequisite sequence of N+1 or more courses left, or where they get to the last semester, but one of the remaining required courses is not offered, or has a time conflict with another remaining required course.
So I would plan to use the summers and take 2 classes at a community College that credits transfer to the college. It doesn’t seem like much but this will help get to the finish line and reduce your child’s work load.
Each school will handle it a bit different. More importantly I would go to a school with a good disability office to make sure your child is getting the accommodations they need. This will help them be successful.
Of course the longer they go the more funds you have to have to support it. Don’t know if splitting up the academic with co- op work makes sense. Schools like Kettering are design this way.
However, a typical two courses for 8 credits in an 8-week summer session would be similar weekly workload as 15 credits in a 15-week semester, so if the student must take light course loads, a 6-credit or lower schedule for summers may be a better fit.
Also, pay attention to what is offered in the summer at community colleges.
Community colleges offer frosh/soph level courses, so they may be most likely to have basic math and science, and frosh/soph level humanities and social science general education courses. Some may have transferable frosh/soph level engineering courses.
Summer offerings may be more limited compared to fall and spring offerings.
It might just help get the student take a lighter load. My son took 2 classes in the summer, yes 8 credits and faster. But it allowed him to double minor also… Of course the student has to make sure the credits transfer.
Check first to make sure the college where your kid is a matriculated student will accept transfer credits from elsewhere. Some don’t at ALL. Some do but only from other four year colleges. Some accept anything that matches their course description.
And many won’t accept any transfer credits toward your major.
Some helpful information I’ve gotten from other engineering threads is that engineering is a marathon, not a sprint. Suggestions include reading the material before the lecture - even if you don’t understand the material during the first reading, the lecture will be much easier to understand if you prepare ahead of time. Another suggestion was taking time with the math courses since the material builds up. Getting the foundation right is more important than finishing quickly. Also, taking advantage of office hours is crucial.
Understanding the material is important, and many students appear to repeat a class in engineering more than other majors in order to truly get the understanding required. It seems more common for engineering students to take 5+ years than for students in other majors (though of course many can do it in 4 years).
In the long-run, I don’t think it really matters if a student graduates at age 21, 24, 26 etc. We have known some students who finished degrees a few years later than the “typical” student. They have done well in their job searches, possibly helped by their added maturity.
Family member here has had a very successful career in engineering. Went to undergrad on the 12 year plan. Wasn’t in college all 12 years. But probably took more than 6 years to complete all the coursework.
In many classes, the standard recommendation and/or expectation is to read the relevant part of the book(s) before class.
Engineering majors are often high volume majors – the number of credits of subject requirements exceeds the 120 semester hour credits or equivalent that is the usual number needed to graduate. Where this is the case, engineering students planning for 8 semesters have to take higher course loads on average than students in other majors. Long sequences of prerequisites can mean that not scheduling one course in a specific semester (or earlier) can delay graduation by a semester (or even a year if the course is not offered every semester).
Honestly if I was going to do this I would do the pre-reqs at a local community college…you don’t have to worry about paying for housing and can take it slow.
