<p>Money magazine is preparing an article about how to get college students to graduate within four years. Wed love to hear advice from parents, recent graduates or upper-level students about any techniques, strategies or services that helped keep them on track to a speedy graduation. Are there any mistakes youd like to warn entering students away from? Is there any advice you wish youd gotten sooner? </p>
<p>You can post replies here or send me a private message. </p>
<p>And yes we've gotten permission from College Confidential to post this message here. :-)</p>
<p>D is a freshman at an LAC and is required by her varsity sport to take at least 4 classes per term for eligibility - this is the thing I believe will keep mine on track for 4 years. (4/term is what is needed).</p>
<p>Taking a large amount of AP/IB courses does help, provided the student does well on the exam and their school accepts the credits. Another method would be by dual-enrolling students, which is sort of like AP/IB credits, but there are no examinations required for the credit, except passing the course. If the student is already in college, then he can opt to take summer courses, and if they are absolutely sure they can handle it, overload. </p>
<p>Though, a good way to prevent lagging behind graduation would be to choose the major early, which will help the student get the major coursework out of the way as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>My child did not take AP classes (not every child can manage that). Every summer, with prior written permission from her school, she took an internet class from a 4 Year state school (not in her major). She stayed ahead of the game. Also, met with her advisor regularly, and came in with an unofficial transcript and any worksheets they had.</p>
<p>Research the college to see what a define major takes and if the school has known issues graduating people in the specific majors because the classes get full.</p>
<p>Verify credits/progress toward major in junior year so you aren’t hit with “I need to go one extra semester”</p>
<p>I also agree with above posters. Take a summer course pre freshman and pre soph year at local CC to fulfill general requirements. (some colleges won’t accept outside credits after attaining “Junior” status.</p>
<p>The economy has taken a toll on some public universities resulting in fewer courses being available. This is causing problems for many kids trying to graduate in 4 years. Chose your college with open eyes.</p>
<p>You set the expectation early. As others have posted this starts with the encouragement to take and excel in AP classes and exams and choosing a college that accepts the credit. Also, having your student not only listen to, but apply in practice, to the advice of their academic advisor. A student that overloads with 18 hours and then struggles in a course resulting in them having to retake that same course can back-log their path to graduation and kill their confidence. We encourage our student to take 15 hours a semester (12 is considered full-time) because we pay a flat rate tuition and it is within our daughter’s ability to manage that course load. For students that would struggle with a 15 hour course load, taking basic courses in the summer at the local community college is a cost effective way to insure the 4 year path stays paved. It is also important to acknowledge that some degree programs are five year programs and there is nothing you can do about that. But for the majority, you have to set a standard that 4 years is the expectation and is the extent to which you will extend your financial contributions.</p>
<p>Don’t change majors. This obviously means doing considerable research before your freshman year as well as understanding your interests. Take advantage of your freshman year to explore different areas so that you can focus on your major beginning in your sophmore year.</p>
<p>Talk to your advisor constantly and have a plan on file with the department. Some required classes are only offered every fall, or perhaps every other spring. Be sure you have prerequisites for signing up for these classes and then sign up early! There is a reason that seniors are given priority registration.</p>
<p>1) Use AP credit as a mulligan (for a really hard semester when the student wants to take 12 hours instead of 15 hours) to stay on track with the hours needed to graduate.
2) Take gen eds early - freshman year/first half of sophomore year giving the student time to decide on the major
3) Look for colleges that have “guarantees” tied to tuition or at a minimum tracking software for the kids so they can see at a glance where they are in the process.
4) Look for college that require kids to meet with an advisor before being able to login and sign up for the next semester’s classes.</p>
<p>Take a few DE or AP classes in high school, but to my own kids I recommend taking ONLY credits in gen ed areas they have no interest in pursuing further. My older D accepted credit her history and her comp, for example. My experience in higher ed makes me skeptical of DE and AP credits. Too many times there are holes in the curriculum and the student can go into the next level of coursework underprepared. If school X wants students to have a very though understanding of something and covers it extensively in their own intro courses, students with AP and transfer credits can struggle. It’s not a problem in a gen ed because the student is less likely to pursue something farther up the food chain. </p>
<p>(One word of caution. SAP rules often stipulate that aid be discontinued when a student hits 150% of the hours required for a degree. A bucketload of AP and DE credits may not be a good thing if a student will hit they magic 150% before finishing a bachelor’s.) </p>
<p>Take the maximum number of credit hours the student can successfully manage. Tough one for freshman as they often think they can handle more than they can. However, if schools offer steeply discounted J/Winterim or May term courses, take advantage.</p>
<p>Take advantage of low cost community college online offerings during the summer to fulfill more general educaiton requirements. Make sure courses will transfer first.</p>
<p>Both of my kids graduated in 4 years (8 semesters).</p>
<p>A few things that helped:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Both stuck with the majors they had picked originally.</p></li>
<li><p>Both had some AP/IB credits that allowed them to (1) go under 15 credits in some semesters (handy if you want to do research or drop a course) and (2) place out of some courses that would otherwise have been required. </p></li>
<li><p>Both attended colleges where getting the courses you need to graduate is not a problem. (One of them was at a flagship state university that had adopted policies designed to prevent such problems. The other was at a private university where it has never been a problem to get the courses you need.)</p></li>
<li><p>Both discussed graduation requirements and how they planned to fulfill them with me on several occasions throughout their college years. Two heads are better than one when trying to figure out these complicated requirements. </p></li>
<li><p>The kid at the state university had an advisor who went over graduation requirements with him regularly. This was part of the required advising process.</p></li>
<li><p>Both understood that this was a responsibility that they had to take seriously.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>A lot of college students do change majors, or go in undecided.</p>
<p>But what seems to be ignored by the undecided students and parents is that it would be a good idea to consider all of the possible majors, then set up a freshman year schedule to make progress in all of them (particularly those with longer prerequisite sequences), so that graduation will not be delayed if the student chooses any of them. Just exploring randomly without keeping track of requirements for the various possible majors may not work so well in terms of graduating on time in the chosen major.</p>
<p>In addition, some majors at many schools are impacted (at full capacity), particularly at public universities under budget pressure. In this case, students should be aware that there may be a competitive admission process to popular majors, so they should have backup major plans if they are not admitted to their first choice major. Obviously, which majors are impacted varies by school.</p>
<p>Agree with golffather. We told our kids we’ll pay $x/yr for 4 years. If you’re not done, not our problem. We won’t sign for loans. Plan carefully and wisely.</p>
<p>S1’s LAC follows its students closely and prides itself on graduating almost all who start (and stay) in 4 years. D1 is at the same school and plans to graduate in 4.</p>
<p>Take classes during summer / winter intersession if offered. Cost wise it is not always the best way but it does work.</p>
<p>Ultimately do the math and see what 4 years buys you. 3 summers could be close to what the cost of two semesters (extra year) would be if you only pay for 9 month housing per year.</p>
<p>Don’t go to a huge school where not getting into needed classes is common. If you don’t know what you want to major in or are undecided between a couple, make sure you are taking any required/core classes along with the pre-req classes for those potential majors so you aren’t wasting credits on “art history” classes that may not be needed later. Take your “art history” or “fun” classes in the summers.</p>
<p>I will also argue that students that are responsible for a bulk of their costs either via scholarships or loans tend to be more motivated to stay on track to graduate on time. If you are reasonable with your course selection, there should be no reason to need classes in the summer.</p>
<p>“Talk to your advisor constantly and have a plan on file with the department. Some required classes are only offered every fall, or perhaps every other spring. Be sure you have prerequisites for signing up for these classes and then sign up early! There is a reason that seniors are given priority registration.”</p>
<p>Pretty sure the “we are only paying for 4 years” was the driving factor in my oldest graduating with an engineering degree in 4 years. He had way too good of a time in those years and would have liked to stay longer.</p>