I was ready to leave college after four years/ 8 semesters but boy- I’d give anything to go back now. So many things I didn’t take, things that sounded boring but now that I’m old I know I’d find fascinating, etc. Why did I only take one music class? Why did I take no geology, oceanography, astronomy (at the time it sounded boring, now that climate change is real, I wish I’d taken all those classes to better understand the physical world). I took ancient philosophy but not 20th century; I studied Greek but not Spanish; just one class in genetics or materials science would make me a better informed human.
I was in something of a rush to leave Business School and although I have no regrets (much of the curriculum was required so you really didn’t pick much until the second year) I would have benefited HUGELY professionally if there had somehow been a continuing ed component. Things I’ve picked up on the job which could have been taught more effectively in a classroom; things I still don’t know but wish I did; theories I’ve read about in secondary and tertiary literature but really would have benefited from learning from an ACTUAL professor who did ACTUAL research/empirical analysis.
So OP- make sure there’s a real reason for graduating early if the finances aren’t critical. I have a niece who graduated early with a solid plan and it made sense- she was continuing with graduate school in her field; she was funded for grad school but was borrowing for undergrad (so one less semester made great financial sense-- her grad program was free but undergrad was not); although there were things she wanted to take outside of her field, she was going to audit a class every semester in addition to her grad work. So great reasoning.
Other kids? They graduate early and flounder. Either their timing is off for recruiting and hiring in their field, or they are missing some work or research experience that would have made them more marketable, or they are missing a few courses (or exposure to professors) which would really help them down the road. If writing a senior paper/thesis is part of year 4, and typically students/professors work very closely together on this type of work, consider whether or not missing out on this is just an “oh well, can’t do everything in life” moment or a big deal. Sometimes, those are the grad school recommendations that really count!