<p>People change their minds and discover their late skills all the time. So how many students do you know that stay more than 4 years at college due to changing major, etc?</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s that common. If you change your major early then you can still graduate in 4 years. If you want to change in the final semester of senior year, then not so much.</p>
<p>Actually the 4 year graduation rate of all US colleges are at an all time low. It’s very common but mostly because of outside factors and not changing majors. One speaker at a college seminar i went to way back said that based on statistics, only 33% of my class would graduate in 4 years. Ivy leagues don’t even have the highest 4 year graduation rates.</p>
<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>
<p>Very common especially if you are doing engineering or science.</p>
<p>Very common, but not because of double majoring or switching majors or anything. I go to a school where you have to pay by the credit hour and therefore people are only taking 12-13 credits a semester because it’s all they can afford. Or less. A lot of people are dropping down to half time or whatever so that they can get full time jobs to pay for school.</p>
<p>^many schools have 5 year programs ie Northeastern’s co-op program, Michigan State’s teaching program. 2 of my best friends are 5 year students because they are getting 2 Bachelor degrees.</p>
<p>It’s very very common. More common than it needs to be… CollegeBored’s recent stats say 40% of students in 4 year programs haven’t graduatated after 6 years. Other stats say just over half (53%) of 4 year students graduate within 6 years. There are many factors for this that indicate that our education system is a flop, some kids don’t need to be going to college, etc, such as lack of counselor resources at huge schools, lack of career advising, the way colleges get their students now… just a big failure</p>
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<p>I seem to recall some stats people have posted in the past showing that the most common reason for people dropping out of school is financial hardship. </p>
<p>I imagine most people on CC have never even worried about that possibility.</p>
<p>Part of it may also depend on what you include in your total. Some students lose credits when they transfer from other schools, so is that part of the students who should graduate in 4 years from when they started college? There are quite a few programs that allow a student to get a bachelor’s & master’s in 5 years instead of just a bachelor’s in 4 years, so does that also skew the numbers making it appear students are taking longer to graduate? What happens to students who transfer out of the original school? Do they get taken out of the equation entirely or are they part of the students who enrolled but never graduated?</p>
<p>The above are some of the reasons that data on these issues is hard to gather–different schools may be using different definitions in reporting.</p>
<p>The CA publics averaged over 4 years (UCs ~4.5 years, CSUs ~6 years) back in early 2000s. Now add into the mix economic conditions over the past few years including severe budget cuts, teacher furloughs, classes offered maybe every other year, whole programs, depts eliminated, higher tuition, fees, and housing, etc…well, the averages have probably risen.</p>
<p>RacinReaver - What does dropping out of school have to do with this? This is graduation. If you drop out, you’ll never graduate… And besides, each additional year you stay in college means an additional year of tuition = more financial hardship? Those students may have dropped out because of financial pressure from staying in school too long.</p>
<p>It was mostly in response to this.</p>
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<p>I believe five-year graduation times are the norm for engineers. Partly because of curriculum creep (electrical engineers have a lot more to know now than they did in 1930!) but also due to co-oping/internships.</p>
<p>I dunno about that–many of the kids who got their engineering degrees with S entered with him & graduated with him, tho some stuck around for a 5th year to get a masters. His room mate was so ill he had to drop out for a term, so he’s going to take 5 years to graduate, minus the lost term. These kids mostly entered with a lot of AP credits, that helped get a lot of their GEs out of the way, so perhaps that is why they are graduating within the 4 year window. (Additionally, tuition & COA there is VERY expensive, so that is another incentive not to tarry or dally.)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure it is becoming less common the more time goes on. At my college we are awarded money if we can finish in 4 years. Most likely due to having so many students.</p>
<p>My H went to in-state flagship U & took 7 years to graduate, back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth! 
My sibs & I took 4 years to graduate, back in the day (mostly the 70s), tho one brother only took 3.5 years because he was trying to help save tuition $$$ (he had transferred to expensive private & wanted to only pay for two years of tuition).</p>
<p>As far as I know, D’s friends are all slated to graduate from their respective Us on-time, 4 years after they began. (Most of them are attending expensive private Us.) My sister’s niece will be taking a bit longer to graduate from her U as she came home to HI for a year, taking a few courses at our flagship while working & figuring out what she wanted to study & then went back to UMass-Amherst. She may be taking 5 years to graduate instead of 4, because of that one year break.</p>
<p>I would think it is much more common to take longer than 4 years at a public/state school than it would be at a private school.</p>
<p>I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I think they back me up.</p>
<p>Various reasons for it, but many students at a public/state school still live at home so there is less pressure to pay for an extra year of rent. Also, many public/state students go part time, or less than 15 credit hours/semester. Many work, some have families, etc. These take away from your ability to dedicate 100% of your time to school. Also, most public schools charge per credit hour, making it easier to take classes “a la carte”. </p>
<p>Private school can be a little different. First, financially they are usually set up a little different. Most often you are charged a flat fee for tuition for the semester. Combined with housing fees, this makes it in your best interest to finish within 4 years. It’s one thing to spend an extra year at a state school where you’re only paying in-state tuition, it’s another to shell out $25,000 of your (parent’s?) money to stay an extra year in private school. Also, there can be a higher percentage of out-of-state students at private schools, paying room&board (or renting a house/apartment). They don’t have the luxury of shacking up with mom and dad for an extra year, so the pressure is on them to finish on time.</p>
<p>I just saw an article that stated the four year graduation rate was only 37% (combined public/private). So it is quite common to take longer than 4 years to finish college.</p>
<p>I found some stats (2003) that showed the 4 year graduation rate for public was 20% compared to 41% for private. So that appears to support my thinking.</p>
<p>Actually, many privates have annual price tags closer to $60K than $25K, so yes, that is quite an incentive not to take too long getting your degree while you’re paying for housing and everything else. Rather than keeping up with those expenses when a student is not sure what s/he wants, the student may take a leave of absence to figure it out, working part or full time while perhaps taking courses at local U or CC.</p>
<p>I was referring to average tuition only costs of private schools. Yes, if you include room&board, travel and other costs, the most expensive private schools can push $60,000. But in reality, most kids attending private school aren’t paying $60,000 per year (after financial aid/scholarships/grants/etc.)</p>
<p>Boston University, traditionally one of the most expensive private schools around, has tuition costs of $40,500 and room and board of $12,500. So even BU doesn’t hit the $60K mark.</p>
<p>If you’re in the bracket where mom and dad are paying the full $60K for you to go to school per year, then money probably isn’t much of an issue for your family anyway.</p>