<p>I’m currently dealing with this issue with my parents. My mom is willing to help pay for the 5th year, dad not so much. He doesn’t understand why I’ve changed career paths and therefore doesn’t understand why I’ve changed majors twice. Sorry I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to do when I was 18-19 years old?!</p>
<p>Frustrating.</p>
<p>^
My parents (married, joint finances) have a similar issue with pazying for grad school if I don’t get full funding, and to a lesser extent with undergrad–mom is totally willing to pay within their means, dad much less so…</p>
<p>With the current economic uncertaintities, it seems more important than ever to make wise choices for parents and student finances. I know a young woman who has taken a leave of absence from her OOS school & is attending a local CC while working as a supermarket cashier & trying to decide what major to pursue. She wants to be sure she isn’t wasting her time & her folks time & money while she grapples with these Qs. The family finances are stretched with her brother also at an OOS public.</p>
<p>THe downside to kids having to make decisions on majors & career paths when they’re 18 or so (so they can graduate in about 4 years) is that often they honestly have no idea of the options available & how well they are suited to most of them. Many end up missing out on exploring other fields and options, which is something I enjoyed dabbling at in college & found it a very useful experience. We encourage our kids to dabble when they can. S took metalworking & D has taken german & also intro to cinema (she may now major in it).</p>
<p>We are glad D started in CC & got some credits there so she has more of a “cushion” & got many of her general grad requirements satisfied before transferring to expensive private U. This was her contribution toward her ed.</p>
<p>Absolutely. DD has the opportunity to take an internship that would delay graduation. In this economy I think it pays.</p>
<p>We laid down the 4 year rule and stuck to it. We were almost derailed by the college’s requirement for a significant number of “core courses.” This requirement, in S case, was a negative, limiting his options to explore other courses and study abroad.</p>
<p>When S selected his college we neglected to notice the large number of required “core” courses in addition to the major requirement. We also missed the fact that pretty much, each course could be counted only toward the major OR toward the core requirement. Although he would be expected to take 40 courses by graduation, 28 would be required courses that were not offered every semester and sometimes not accessible to an underclassman. We laid out a matrix of courses he would have to take each semester in order to graduate. If he had changed majors or traveled abroad he would not have graduated in 4 years.</p>
<p>Doing a matrix analysis is important to see what the possibilities are. Our son’s school has a degree progress calculator which allows you to add courses to see the effect on your remaining graduation requirements.</p>
<p>In Engineering at any school, assume 5. Maybe you will be pleasantly surprised if they graduate in 4, but don’t count on it.</p>
<p>Check out American Society of Engineering Education profiles for details on specific schools.</p>
<p>I would definitely be willing to pay for a 5th year, if it resulted in the right major/minor selection for my D, and a higher GPA. </p>
<p>If the 5th year is because the student fumbled due to irresponsibility, disorganization, I would not be so inclined.</p>
<p>I remember the pressure my parents put me under to get out in 4 years. I had to take 18credits for many semesters to meet my major’s graduation requirements - I never changed majors, flunked a class, etc…just heavy courseload to graduate. I think my GPA suffered due to this courseload. </p>
<p>We chose an honors program public university with a lower price tag with this possibility in mind. My d is also unsure of her major at this point, so I think there is a probability this might occur. I also think interships, co-ops are very valuable and think it is wise to extend to 5-6 years to get these experiences in. </p>
<p>Life is long, and they are young. I’d rather that the right educational/professional decisions be made during the 17-23 year age range than to hurry through and have do-overs later. We tend to be relaxed, thoughtful decision makers…time that goes into planning pays off for us, whether it’s about our house, vacations, careers - whatever.</p>
<p>One could also argue that we’ve bought ourselves a 5 year plan with a public U, but it seemed to be the right choice for our D.</p>
<p>^^^ Hmmm… I guess I should led DS know that I appreciate his finishing his Mech E degree in 4 yrs, toadstool. </p>
<p>Another thing I noticed is that even though my kids got a lot of AP credit, it didnt really make a huge difference in terms of meeting their graduation, distribution requirements or requirements for their majors. They ended up taking some again (eg being premed,it was recommended ds take college chemistry even though he had taken AP chem and got a 5). It did, however, put them in a higher “class standing” so they got to register as , for eg, as junior when they were technically a sophomore. That helped get in to classes they needed. So its possible to graduate in 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 or 5 years depending on school requirements and outside issues that can effect school progress.</p>
<p>MY H said that there was someone he went to college with who was on “the 10 yr plan”, and the school finally told him to finish or skedaddle. Rumor had it not only was he enjoying bwing a professional student, but he was paying for it by being a drug dealer. Not good.</p>
<p>Our state offers a great scholarship as long as a certain GPA is maintained. What was happening, though, is that some students were taking light courseloads and taking 5 yrs to graduate, but maintaining the GPA to keep the scholarship. So, the state tightened up the rules to require a miniimum # of class hours and for the scholarship to last only 4 years. </p>
<p>Like others mentioned above, our younger s has a great scholarship at his private U, but it will only last 4 yrs (5 for arch. majors, but that doesnt apply to him). If he were to stay for 5 years, his cost for that last year would skyrocket. We have set aside a certain amt of $ for his education, and while the $ is there to cover that last year should that be his choice, it would take away from what would otherwise be available for professional (med, pharm or whatever) school. So he would have that choice, but I doubt, barring unforseen circumstances, that he woudl take it. That said, if he were, fopr example, to do a total about face and change to, say, a business major in his junior year, he’d have a lot of ground to make up in those 2 yrs, and dont know if it would be possible.</p>
<p>In D’s case, she has been told that she needs to finish in 4 years. Like some of you, we are full pay at an expensive private college. Under certain circumstances, I would not have a problem with 5, such as a combined BS/MS program or an engineering major with co-op. As I recall, the engineering majors I attended school with all did this and even made enough money during their co-ops that they paid for a large portion of their tuition.</p>
<p>None of this applies to D, hence the 4 year rule.</p>
<p>S1 graduated in four yrs. with help of AP credits, a creative advisor and lot of diligence on his part, taking 18/19 hours for several semesters. Due to the program/scholarship requirements he pretty much had to finish in four years. Since he was on scholarships, we could have paid for the 5th year but his program really demanded finishing in four.</p>
<p>S2 is a different kettle of fish. No AP’s and only four hours of CC transfer credit. He had a terrible first semester (due to factors he couldn’t totally control) so spent the second semester retaking classes. He is going to summer sch. this summer and will only be one course behind in the 4 yr. plan in the Fall. If for some reason, he needs an extra semester to finish due to some logistical reason, we will finance it. We have not budgeted for more than four years but he is at a reasonably priced instate public so we could prob. swing an extra semester if we had to.</p>
<p>This thread has been thought provoking for me.</p>
<p>As a couple posters have noted with their situations, the marginal cost of a 5th year would be huge for us since our son’s scholarship is only for 4 years. Even just a 9th full-pay semester would cost us almost what we had been paying for a full year under the scholarship.</p>
<p>We’ll have to sit down with our son at the end of sophomore year and figure out where he is headed and if he is on track to get there. I’d rather try to do local summer school courses than pay for another semester/year away at school, since then we’d have additional room and board costs.</p>
<p>But I wouldn’t rule out (or in) anything yet.</p>
<p>His UGMA. His College. His Brain. His Loans. His Time. His Problem.</p>
<p>I impressed upon my son the need to plan his academic schedule because his major is technical and classes build upon each other. Many humanities and social science students can choose a major junior year, but for math/science students that doesn’t work. I have agreed to pay for four years of undergraduate education for my son, but am biased toward majors with solid employment potential. If my son wanted to switch from art history or sociology to engineering or accounting, I would pay for a fifth year. If he wanted to switch from engineering or accounting to art history or sociology, I would expect him to pay for the fifth year.</p>
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</p>
<p>UGMA stands for…?</p>
<p>UGMA=Uniform Gifts to Minors Act</p>
<p>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UGMA</p>
<p>My feeling at this time, a year out before sending first D to college, is a big fat “no way”, but I guess that could change. We have already discussed the need to plan ahead when scheduling classes so she doesn’t get herself in a bind where she is down to the wire and can’t schedule the classes she needs to graduate. One of the schools she is looking at, Lehigh University, gives a 5th year free if you maintain a certain avg. during your 4 undergrad years. We’re not really considering needing this, though.</p>
<p>We are close to full payers at a very pricey school. We are in it for the four year plan. Anything beyond that will have to be funded by the child (and she knew that when she decided to choose this expensive alternative over a less expensive one).</p>
<p>I haven’t read the entire thread, but I thought I would plug the University of Rochester here. When you graduate, they give you the option of a 5th year tuition free in order to take some classes that you wanted to take but didn’t have the option to or, as is much more common, to double or even triple major.</p>
<p>That being said, would you pay for the room and board if your child decided to take them up on that fifth year?</p>
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<p>Absolutely! That is a great option. I wonder how many take advantage of it?</p>