The current generation of students seems just fine with the idea of spending five years to earn a college degree. (The average is now 5.1 years.)

That fifth year:

• Increases your cost by 25%.
• Increases your opportunity cost since you aren’t collecting a paycheck.
• Increases your student loan debt—often disproportionally if the extra year comes as a surprise.
• Reduces your return on investment.

College has gotten really expensive. Tuition is up 200% in just the last twenty years. These numbers really add up.

Few understand how difficult it is to make a success of college. (My old fashion definition of success is that you graduate, get a well-paying job and aren’t buried in student loan debt.)

That fifth (or sixth, or seventh) year is not only expensive, it also increases your risk of not being successful in college. As you get older and have more life experiences, you’ll learn that “life” has a nasty habit of “getting in your way.” Hang around long enough, and something unexpected and unconstructive is likely to happen.

My advice is: GET IN, GET OUT.

Here are my observations on how that fifth year comes about:

Parents Condone It

Maybe “condone” isn’t the right word. Perhaps what is going on is “enabling.” Look, I get it. A teenager turns eighteen, and, often there is a change in the parent/student dynamic. The newly minted “adult” wants to test those wings.

I’ve written extensively about this. Making a success out of college is very complicated these days. It needs to be a family effort.

As the parent, you need to set “expectations” and carry a major part of the burden for financial planning. The time to have started that conversation was several years ago. See Right College, Right Price by Frank Palmasani.

Too Much Dependence on Your Academic Advisor

This is tricky. You’ve gone through the highly structured K-12 education system being told what to do step by step. You show up at college and here is your very own academic advisor. What’s the problem? Just do what you are told.

Not! The pathway to that bachelor’s degree is orders of magnitude more complicated than that simple route to a high school diploma. The stakes, in terms of time and money, are much higher. Some advisors are great, some, not so much. All of them are spread thin with hundreds of students. And here is the BIGGY—they are not accountable. If a key class doesn’t get scheduled, and you have to stay in school an extra semester, guess who pays?

My take on this is for the freshman year parents would do well to help—hand in hand with their student checking and double checking everything the advisor is advising.

Bonnie Kerrigan Synder, the author of The New College Reality, does a good job of addressing this issue in Chapter 4 Taking Responsibility for Your Education.

Poor Academic Planning

The Inability to Multiply

I’ve seen students routinely sign up for twelve credits a semester. Twelve credits times eight semesters equals ninety-six. Duh! You aren’t going to graduate in four years.

Meandering Through the Curriculum

The average grad ends up with 134 credits—fourteen more than the typical one hundred twenty hour requirement.

Bottleneck of Key Classes

It is not uncommon to find critical classes full. Some schools and programs are worse than others in this regard. Anticipation and meeting deadlines are important.

Unavailability of Key Classes

An example would be a key class that is only available every other year. Again, anticipation.

Changing Majors

I’m not going to reproduce what I’ve written about this subject here. The short version is that if you show up at college without having identified a marketable major, you are increasing your risk. The hobby of “Finding Yourself” is too expensive at today’s rates.

Transferring Schools

I believe that choosing a school is more of an analytical process, than some whimsical, “dream school” or “fit” exercise. Making a mistake and needing to transfer is expensive.

I’ve seen teenagers deem a school as not-a-fit because it was raining the day they made their visit.

Conflicts with Work and Family

This is one of the most common examples of “life getting in the way.” The more school drags out, the harder it is going to get. One of my themes is that you should consider earning a marketable certification at a community college before tackling a four-year degree.

Requirement for Remedial Classes

Too many young people are going to four-year colleges. More than half of them require remedial classes. The first problem is that this adds credit hours to the typical one hundred twenty hour requirement and, subsequently, to the cost.

Only one in four of all students who matriculate, graduate and get a well-paying job. The data shows that if you required remedial classes, the graduation rate is cut in half. I’m not aware of any data on job outcomes.

Inadequate Financial Planning

If you want to know how young people used to work their way through college in the-good-old-days, read The Boys in the Boat. (This non-fiction account took place during the Great Depression in the mid-1930’s. The process was pretty straight forward. The short explanation is that you worked extremely hard in the summer at some job like construction and lived very frugally.) A quarter century later some version of this formula still worked.

But, not today. Financial planning for college has become exceedingly complex with net price calculators, expected family contributions, federal tax implications, etc. It is almost impossible to work your way through college—unless you have a special skill. And, it is clear, that many of today’s students aren’t inclined to live frugally.

LendEDU has recently published a study that indicates “financial reasons” is the single greatest cause (35%) that students drop out, with 62% indicating they hope to return to their studies at a later date.

I haven’t seen any data on this, but I would be willing to bet that most families don’t have a “whole degree” financial plan when they send “Little Johnny” off to become a Big Man on Campus.

Conclusion

The good news is that there is a recognition of the seriousness of this problem. My favorite organization in this regard is Complete College America. Thirty-six state governors are on board with taking on the issue of completing college on time.

http://completecollege.org/

Note:

Here are two additional ideas that can help you “finish in four.”

• When you are choosing a college, check out the four-year graduation rate.
• While in high school take a generous helping of AP classes. This will give you some “wiggle” room when it comes to scheduling classes in college.