Brilliant College Career

Brilliant College Career

It's not just a four-year hitch now, thanks to many pressures

In the lecture halls and common rooms of America's oldest and most prestigious universities, graduating with a bachelor's degree in four years has long been the tradition. But intellectual snobs might be surprised to find-out that the four-year college degree is more an accident in American History that is academic gospel.

When Harvard opened in 1636, it adopted the four-year system from Cambridge University in England. Little did Harvard know that Cambridge and Oxford Universities would be switching to three-year programs just a few years later. If the higher education system of the United States had been created just a few years later, today's Academic Brahmins would be just as sure it takes three, not four to produce an educated person.

In fact, increasingly, students are taking more than four years to obtain their college diplomas. A few years ago, a study done by the National Institute of Colleges and Universities shows that 43 percent of students graduating from private colleges and 64 percent of students graduating from public colleges took more than four years to obtain their degree.

We tend to see a lot more students stopping to do other things during their college careers. They take five to six years to graduate in first sense, but few are actually enrolled for longer than eight semesters.

The reasons for this trend are both economic and academic. A student may change his field of study, take more time, and end up in a more appropriate career in others, students are taking lighter course per semester, in hopes of improving their chances to get into graduate school. Still others are obtaining dual degrees by taking extra-time.

May be, you'll have a brilliant career College. Photo by Elena.

Taking more time to get a degree and earning money on the side of the economic necessity for some. According to a study by the Bureau of Labor statistics, 51% of full-time college students hold part-time jobs today, compared with only 32% in 1972. What's more, many professional programs now have internship or practical experience requirements. Although taking the extra time to fulfill these can delay date if graduation, such requirements can provide valuable training that will benefit students in the future.

The high cost of tuition has other students rushing to finish their undergraduate degrees in less than four years as well. We are seeing student graduating earlier than later. Students have a lot of AP credits and they are learning there is nothing magic about four years. Some parents offer to pay for three years in Stanford, or four at a state university. People come to college for different reasons and students shouldn't be forced to stay for four years.

Many schools now offer formal three-year programs leading to bachelor's degrees. Indiana's Valparaiso University, Vermont's Middlebury College, Upper Iowa University are among them. They are not doing that for internal financial reasons. It's an accelerated three-years international course. At Valparaiso, financial considerations are readily acknowledged These programs were first marketed as a way to save a year tuition. But the university marks it as a way for the student to gain a year's earnings. It is mostly for highly motivated students, not something for everyone. But it should be an option. We need as many options as possible. Some students come in the door knowing it will take them eight years to graduate.