I think it should be up to her. Some students are just not that into college life and are ready to move on. I actually had much more fun my first couple years working my tail off at start ups than earning 2 tech degrees. I also learned a bunch and bonded well with co-workers.
But if she wants to stay and get a broader education, I think that’s great too.
^^^ Fancy that!! What would she like to do?
That is the only answer, really.
I would remind the young woman and her family that true learning isn’t a race, or a set of “check-the-boxes” - if she is turning down a chance to excel for a chance to get out sooner, she would probably be making a mistake. (What I mean is, is she simply meeting the degree requirements, or looking like a student graduate schools and employers will say “wow” about?)
I’d advise her to take any and all courses and get any kind of positive experiences (research that will set her apart from peers with the same econ major-the more quantitative and computer skills she has the better.
I would only stay if it meant taking concrete skills-based courses (foreign language, computer programming). $35K is a lot of money. I mean, she could start a small business with that or put a down payment on a house.
The only thing I’d advise, since she came in with a lot of units, is to make sure she doesn’t exceed her graduation unit cap. My Bruin kid wasn’t allowed to double major because she would have exceeded her grad unit cap by a larger margin than the appeals dept would accept. The first academic adviser she met with okayed the double major, but a year later the second adviser said she would exceed her unit cap, and it was a no-go (that was an emotional time since she had taken some classes that were beyond tough but ended up being unnecessary for a minor). She graduated in four years with a major/minor instead. I don’t know if all of UCLA’s colleges have unit caps but Letters and Science does.
My D is an Econ major at an LAC and is graduating in three years, in May 2019. Having watched her through this decision process i I would look at what your D has done and accomplished already, what she intends to do after graduation, and how another year in school might affect her plans. What does her resume look like now? What will she do this summer? Will she have an internship in her field or an REU, or would she be entering the job market with no experience if she graduates early? Could she study abroad and gain some intercultural experience next fall? What additional coursework would make her better prepared for what she will do next? Is she ready to leave school and enter the job market or could she use a little more time to mature or whatever?
In my kid’s case, she’s basically maxed out what she can do by staying in school. She studied abroad twice, did an REU, has work experience and an internship, has nearly enough credits for a double major but it’s the coursework, not the second degree that will help her, and she has a great job lined up and grad school plans for the future. At times it felt rushed, or like she could have had an easier time by adding a semester or a year, but it would have been costly as well. It’s not that there’s no value in staying, but for her it makes more sense to go, and she is quite ready to do so. I think if last summer had not had the REU or a solid internship, more time to add some sort of meaningful experience would have been a good idea.
Good luck to your daughter as she thinks it through.
If she can get a job presently she saves not only 35k tuition but also gains a year of salary. Could be a much bigger chunk of change.
Could she take enough credits/courses so that she can get a CPA?
You need 150 credits to become a CPA.
What do her employment options look like? It would be nice to have a senior year where she wasn’t so focused on studies that she could spend time job hunting and interviewing.