Our son’s college requires all students to graduate in four years regardless of major. Or else. Anyone attempting a fifth year will be shot.
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At son’s school there are many good reasons. Engineering coops are a big one. There are degrees like my son’s advanced program where he was 3 years undergrad then 4 years in vet school but wasn’t granted his BS til he finished his second year of vet school so he was considered 5 year graduation. So many options!
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The 4-year graduation rate was one stat I really paid attention to when my kids were doing their college search. Both chose majors that should graduate in 4 years and I wasn’t looking to pay for extra years for reasons such as not being able to get classes (especially for kid #2, where we’re paying OOS). Luckily, neither kid had a significant change in major but if that had resulted in an extra year, conversations would have taken place as to who was going to foot the bill.
I’ve also noticed that a handful of my junior D’s friends at other colleges are actually graduating a year early. I’m assuming it’s because they did early college at their HS or had accumulated AP credits.
And now with Covid, and kids taking gap years, or gap semesters during it, taking longer is pretty common. In cases like this, including one of my sons, it doesn’t cost more as one isn’t paying for the semester/year off.
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This thinking is absolutely not occurring at public institutions in states with an outcomes-based funding formula. There are many incentives for these institutions to offer an adequate number of sections and offer lots of student support services to enable students to successfully complete their program of study in four years.
However, these institutions also have an increasing number of students who are only able to pursue a college degree through a combination of federal aid, institutional aid, and employment. I have many students taking 12-credit hours per semester because it qualifies as full-time but allows them to work part-time (sometimes full time). A student could complete a 120-hour bachelor’s degree in four years, but only taking 12 hours requires five years. Toss in a medical emergency, family crisis, or other hardship for just one semester and even five years won’t be enough.
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I was one who took 5 years to graduate. I did not have parental support and had to work full-time/take off a couple of semesters to fund my degree… so there is that.
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The 6 year metric is one that is collected by the Government in the Common data set. Along with any rankings or or lists it’s so important to figure out which metrics are important for you.
I do think the 6 years gives you a good barometer on % of students that start that actually earn their diploma. Personally, I found that for students looking at schools outside the top tier it is a good indicator (along with Freshman retention rate) of how well the school supports students that might be struggling. Back in the 90s, I think more of the accountability was put on the student to seek additional help when struggling. The schools that do well on those metrics seem to do a better job of things like academic advising, tutoring, mid-term grade reviews, etc.
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Graduation rates mostly reflect admission selectivity and student financial capability to afford college. So what would be more useful in this respect would be graduation rates in comparison to graduation rates that one would expect from colleges with the same student academic and financial demographics.
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Isn’t that how people use them for decision making?
As an applicant, your socioeconomic situation is a constant and you are comparing the group of schools where you are considering applying.
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In that case, what matters most for your personal likelihood of graduating is how affordable the college is to you, regardless of how affordable it is to other students there or how academically selective it is (what graduation rates mostly proxy).
This thread makes me wish that I had attended UC-Santa Barbara and taken 6 years to graduate instead of finishing in 3 at an isolated, cold weather LAC.
Agree that the 6 year graduation rate is reported due to federal financial aid limits.
Taking six years to graduate is pretty common at CU-Boulder. Students take time off to work, travel, or just take a reduced course load in order to better enjoy the Boulder lifestyle. The student population skews wealthy with a healthy mix of trustafarians who are all just doing college their way.
Does the 6 year graduation rate suggest simply “date of first enrollment to date of graduation” or does it take into consideration that is 12 semesters and if someone takes a semester or two off, does that count? i.e. if I enroll Fall of '20 and graduate in spring '26 but only go for 10 semesters did I graduate in 5 years or 6?
But agree with what everyone else has said. There are several programs that by very nature are 5 years. Some kids can’t take full course loads every semester due to financial limitations (which include needing to work). And the 6 year metric is nothing new.
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At Purdue, it’s date of first enrollment to date of graduation, even when it only takes 8 semesters to graduate. I can’t imagine they are the only university to track that way.
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I had the same question as to why they didn’t put those trying to take a class the second time at the back of the list. But that wasn’t my call. The department was trying to solve their graduation rate problem and maybe they have by now. My son graduated a number of years ago.
Just want to point out the flip side of this: ~85% of first-time undergrads graduating in <=4 years means 15% are not. And ~75% of transfers graduating in <= 2 years means 25% are not. So basically, odd are very likely you know at least a couple people in either of these boats.
Personally, I know that taking 1 extra quarter is quite common. Same with graduating 2 quarters early. Fall graduating is a fact of life, wherever you are on the spectrum.
Just pointing this out to show that it is totally okay normal for students to take longer (or shorter) than 4 years to graduate. College isn’t one size fit all.
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When I went o school years ago, there are people who missed getting that one class they need to graduate and had to do another year. Usually that one class is offered once a year and caps out at 30 students, taught by that one professor who just can’t be forced to teach any more than that. This is likely the most common reason students in UC/CSU need more than 4 years to finish.
HOWEVER, most people actually just didn’t want to leave. I met a super senior who is on his 7th year because according to him, mom and dad foot the bill for him to live on his own and party, why leave? I guess that’s the Van Wilder Complex.
I took 5 years by choice because between graduating in 4 years with a low GPA (meaning no job, no grad school) vs adding a GPA booster year to get into grad school (which having one year with 4.0 really boost that), the decision was a no brainer.
I suspect from reading all your posts that many of you were smart determined students who would never think to game the system. I on the other hand, needed every trick in the book to get to where I am. A 5th year worked out well for me.
There are also a small subset of students who for the first two years were just clueless on what they want. It may take them 1-2 years to settle on their passion and set serious. HS really does not prepare them well for their future careers. Unless you have parents who are in a certain occupation, you really wouldn’t know much about it. My own kids have zero clue what I do, but I know enough about them to know I wouldn’t push them into own own field(s).
In my spare time, I teach a Bio class in my local CC. At least every term, there is 1-2 students who graduated from a 4-year university, can’t find jobs, decide now they want to be a nurse and end up in my class because it’s a prerequisite for CC’s nursing program. In my mind, I’m not sure if I rather my kids do 6 years and find direction vs finish in 4, and having to come back and take CC classes again when they have no job prospect.
is 6 year rate “normal” ? No. But happens. For many reasons.
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Most majors are not so structured that one has only one chance in 8 semesters or 12 quarters to take a needed class to graduate within that number of semesters or quarters.
But it probably is common for students to plan their 8 semester or 12 quarter schedules poorly by delaying critical prerequisites so that they put themselves in a position where not getting a particular course in a particular semester or quarter will delay graduation.
Students may also end up in that position if they were late in deciding a major, or changed majors late, so they have to cram a lot of “catch up” courses into their schedules.
There are also students who take lighter full time loads (12-13 credit units instead of 15-16 credit units) because of work or family needs.
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That would all be fine if students are not paying $80k per year for the delay. That is a lot of money to spend on not taking the right courses on time.
Most college students are not paying list price at expensive private colleges. Slow progress to graduation is much more common at less selective less expensive public colleges. Some public colleges have rules or incentives to get students to graduate more quickly.