<p>Since colleges report 6 year graduation rates, and the "5 year plan" seems all too common, how are people paying for this? Am I correct that aid only covers 4 years?</p>
<p>And how do students pay for summer semesters?</p>
<p>Each school has its own policies. You would have to check with the school.</p>
<p>Summer is a challenge for many students … there are typically no scholarships or grants for summer, and often the annual loan eligibility is exhausted. This means the student would have to borrow private loans, if borrowing is necessary.</p>
<p>Are you talking about need based aid or merit aid?</p>
<p>Both of my kids had merit aid. It was for four years during the regular academic year only…no summers were funded with aid.</p>
<p>You would have to check each school’s policies on awarding grants for more than 4 years. YMMV depending on the college.</p>
<p>Right, check with your school. My son’s summer study abroad did qualify for his regular semester scholarship, as it was sponsored by his school and will result in him graduating early. (So he only gets 4 years of scholarship, but the summer counted as a semester. It’s confusing as they just switched from quarters to semesters. )</p>
<p>When it comes to the school’s own institutional aid and merit money, unless you are in an approved 5 year program, the norm is to only provide aid for 4 years.</p>
<p>If students want to attend summer sessions unless the school approves it in advance (and it does not take away from the school year financial aid), usually their parents will have to pay for the cost of attending</p>
<p>My D went to a school with a very strict 8 semester limit on their aid. We could not afford the school without aid. They also were strict about summer credit, it had to be approved by the school if you went to another school than theirs. We thought it would have been nice to take summer classes to lighten her load during the school year but she thought it was too much trouble to try and get a class approved and it would have had to be an elective. </p>
<p>She did graduate in her 8 semesters but she took a lot of credits each semester. It is something to think about.</p>
<p>Mostly, yes, institutions have limits on the number of years for which they’ll offer you thier own money. Quite often, that limit is four years. There may be schools that offer 5 (haven’t encountered one yet in my kids’ searches, but we obviously haven’t looked at all the thousands of colleges in the US, either) and there may be schools that will offer more than 4 for specific programs if the program takes longer than 4 (i’ve seen that at one school for their education major; ninth semester student teaching and aid and/or reduced tuition available for that semester)</p>
<p>Okay, it sounds as though I understand correctly that aid is normally only for 8 semesters. </p>
<p>So how do so many kids spend 5-6 years getting a 4 year degree? As far as I am concerned, my kids need to be done in 4 years, but how are students paying for these extra semesters? If you are on FA it seems impossible that you would suddenly be able to pay for an extra semester or four out of pocket, and if you are full pay, it seems that parents would be less than forthcoming with the extra funds.</p>
<p>Students or parents take out loans or students transfer. Most needy students I knew who took more than 4 years ended up having to transfer to a new school (often a commuter or substantially cheaper school) and that can reset the clock on institutional aid.</p>
<p>As far as summer programs go, though, sometimes colleges will have additional money for study abroad available for students. One of my kids did a study abroad funded through additional money at the college so it didn’t impact aid.</p>
<p>Planner03, my D went to one of those very expensive $60,000/year schools. Her roommate took summer classes every summer and a summer abroad one year. Her sister went to an Ivy League school and did the same thing, a very expensive language program one summer. I’m not sure why the roommate went summers but she did double major and a minor. </p>
<p>We couldn’t afford it and D worked every summer. Roommate never worked and didn’t interview for any jobs prior to graduation. But due to connections she had she found a very nice job in her preferred city that her boyfriend lived in. I am always surprised at how much money there is out there compared to our situation. It was an eye opener.</p>
<p>Both my children were on the (well advertised) four year parent plan. Bringing in APs definitely helps. Many students go to 5 and 6 years when they change majors, which results in taking loans…</p>
<p>NMF scholarships at some schools can go a 5th year and can include grad school.</p>
<p>My university offers a pretty wide course selection in the summer and it IS eligible to use university aid for this. There are 2 half-semesters in the summer, and the scholarship is designated to cover 8 semesters. This plays well with summer courses. It’s definitely worth checking with the individual institutions and seeing what kind of terminology they use - semester vs. year.</p>
<p>If you are eligible for a state college grant during the school year, some states will also offer a grant during the summer. </p>
<p>For summer classes where money is an issue, I’d look into online courses, particularly from an in-state public university. Some courses work well online, while others do not. Save the course(s) that would work best online for the summer.</p>
<p>The thing is…those who are in situations where their school or parents will only pay for 4 years are more likely to pay attention, not change majors, not do extra majors/minors so that they can graduate on time.</p>
<p>Those who don’t pay attention or whatever, can find themselves with no degree or with big debt. </p>
<p>Doing double majors can be a trap. A student can get to senior year, realize that aid will run out, but not be able to finish either one. If a student is considering a double major or extra minor, be sure to keep the req’ts for ONE major on track so that if necessary, the second major can remain incomplete.</p>
<p>Agreed as to the double major. If you are certian you can get it done, fine. Otherwise, it really has minimal value.</p>
<p>^ I have to disagree with the value of a second major. A minor, yes; not a major. But it’s more important to be done on time if possible.</p>
<p>“So how do so many kids spend 5-6 years getting a 4 year degree?”</p>
<p>Some of them take leaves of absence when they are not taking courses. Some of them are not on financial aid or are little enough of it that they and their family can take up the gap in cost, Some of them borrow and take on a lot of debt. Some of them do get approval from the school for an additional year. And a combination of all of the above.</p>
<p>One of mine did win a major award for junior year, and that could be something that could fund another year if needed for change of major or double major. Some schools do have departmental awards for upper classmen that could help out those kids who find out a bit late that they want to change majors. If the school has such awards and deems the kid worthy of helping them out in the new passion, that could happen. </p>
<p>Some kids take 5-6 years more because of lack of money, and end up taking courses elsewhere to cobble together to get that degree, and then return. The figures are averages, so there are kids who take more time, but they may not be at the school in all of those intervening years.</p>