Don’t misinterpret the message! Extending beyond 4 years as a result of goofing off with your friends; not attending class or labs; not going to your professors’ office hours; not hiring a tutor when you obviously need one; not studying enough hours, and/or failing classes as a result of “not liking the class or not liking the professor” are all just excuses for not graduating in four years. Notice that all those excuses are fully within your control so staying focused on the goal of graduating from college and keeping the proper attitude when taking challenging courses are crucial to your success. In the event that you extend beyond 4 years, note that scholarships, grants and other financial aid sources do not extend to cover the additional cost. That’s why you need to take college seriously starting on Day 1.
Here are some examples of valid circumstances that may lead to it taking slightly longer than 4 years to earn a bachelor’s degree:
a) Taking time out to become a parent,
b) Working full time to help your family through a financial rough patch,
c) Providing caregiving to a relative,
d) Working part time in order to avoid getting into excessive student loan debt,
e) Pursuing a demanding major such as Pre-Med and engineering, and/or
f) Participating in your university’s co-op program.
Keep these things in mind: 1) a traditional university cannot force you to graduate in 4 years, but a university can require you to “make adequate progress” toward degree completion and a university can require you to adhere to a time limit on how many years you can pursue a specific degree without having to switch to a revised curriculum, which often means taking additional courses. Therefore, it’s important to meet with and follow the advice of the university’s academic advisors, and 2) Family, friends, faculty and administrators will all use the generic term, “4-year degree” because society has adopted that as a standard timeframe for earning an undergraduate degree. That term originated decades ago when young adults had fewer distractions and fewer people attended college. Today, there are millions of college students and we know that college students have complicated lives where attending classes is just one part of a busy day. While you cannot restrict people from saying 4-year degree, just remember that you are to proceed at whatever rate enables you to learn. Make sure that you are actually learning and then applying concepts versus just passing classes by doing the minimum.
In order to close with a leadership perspective, it is important to state that employers need entry-level college graduates to be knowledgeable enough to perform the work they are hired to do. If you can’t do the job, then employers don’t need to keep you on the payroll. That’s why your job as a college student is to gain the knowledge necessary to earn a relevant degree which will then enable you to be a top performer at work and a responsible leader regardless of the situation. Rushing through college just to graduate in exactly 4 years does not help you to become a better leader.
Herb