The High Price of Not Completing College in Four Years

Most students take longer to graduate, so schools are trying to do something about that

At four-year schools, only about 40% of full-time students graduate on time, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

For some students, it is because they sign up for too few courses in certain semesters and don’t earn enough credits in time. Other students can enroll in too many courses that don’t count toward a degree. In still other cases, students have to work to cover their expenses, which sometimes interferes with studies.

Such delays add up. An additional year of school in a public four-year college will cost $22,826, on average, according to the nonprofit Complete College America. Then there is lost income to consider. Students who stay in school an additional year miss out on about $45,327 in salary, on average.

All told, Complete College America estimates that an extra year of college can cost as much as $68,153.

More colleges and universities are trying to improve their on-time graduation rates. The move, some say, is a response to the rising cost of tuition and stagnating family incomes. But it also makes financial sense for the schools. When students are on track to graduate on time, dropout rates fall and revenues rise.

Many new initiatives urge students to earn more credits each semester. To that end, a number of colleges now charge a flat rate for a semester, rather than charge by the credit. Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo., revised its tuition policy so that students pay the same for 20 credits as they pay for 12, and have an incentive to take a heavier course load. Also, its tuition won’t increase for four consecutive years for full-time students.

“We are trying keep the cost of education as low as possible,” says Karla Hardesty, director of marketing and enrollment management at Adams State.

The average course load for degree-seeking undergraduates at Adams State rose 11% between the fall of 2010 and the fall of 2015, according to school officials. The university’s goal is to have more than 20% of its students graduate in four years by 2020. For the freshman class of 2009, the rate was 11%.

Focus on 15

Students at many colleges take 12 credits a semester, or 24 credits a year, which is considered full time by federal financial-aid programs. But students usually need 30 credits a year to earn the necessary 120 credits to graduate on time.

If students start taking more credits from the outset, education experts say, it sets a precedent that is likely to stay with them throughout their time at school. Students at four-year schools who took 15 credits their first semester or 30 credits their first year were more likely to graduate than students who attempted 12 or 24 credits, according to a recent study of data from Tennessee public colleges.

“The longer students stretch out their studies, the more life intervenes and the more likely students won’t finish,” says Davis Jenkins, co-author of the study and senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Teachers College. The report also found that students who stayed the course paid $52 (14%) less per credit and $13,310 (20%) less per degree.

Some states have made enrolling in 30 credits a year a requirement to receive state scholarship money. New York state’s Excelsior scholarship, included in the 2018 Read full article here.