why do ungergraduates take 5 to 6 years to finish a college degree?

Sorry I don’t know any websites, but I know that a lot of colleges have made it so that they don’t offer necessary classes often enough for people to get them all in only 4 years.

Here’s another view point that hasn’t been covered.

Many universities will determine a course load of 18 to 21 (or even more) credits a semester to graduate in four years. Thats up to 5 or 6 classes. How many students really take that many classes? I know that I started off my college career attempting that course load, which actually in the end, set me back due to the difficulty of my engineering courses. There was no way that I could take that many difficult courses

Couple this with any kind of work, family, or any other kind of issues, students will end up taking more than 4 years to graduate.

Some of it is because advisers will tell students that a normal load might be too hard for them and encourage them to take less credits (I had this happen). Some of it is because it’s easy to get behind if you fail classes, take a light semester for whatever reason or change majors a lot. Some people have to take less credits so they can work a lot to pay for the schooling. Some people are just lazy.

– Money (be it lack of financial aid, decision to work between semesters to make more money for college, etc.)

– Change of major

– Traumatizing experiences

– Physical illness

– Mental illness (depression, etc.)

– Low grades

– Some people get jobs and decide to change their status from full-time to part-time students

– Family issues and responsibilities

– Some people feel that college isn’t right for them anymore at that point in their lives, and may or may not return later

– Poor academic advising

– Money issues can result in students registering for classes late, therefore having difficulty getting into the classes they need, particularly those that are only offered once a year and may be prerequisites for other classes.

– Real life happening.

i don’t have any websites to supply you with but i personally know people at my university who have took 6 and 7 years to finish their degree

some reasons for this is

– can’t make up their mind about their major therefore many times they end up changing majors thus having to take more classes. in the end their left with many classes they didn’t really have to take.

– having a double major which requires you to have a lot more credits in your particular major.

– finances or lack thereof

– failing grades; many classes some students have to repeat because they did not perform satisfactory

hoped this helped.

Part of it is that colleges encourage kids to take more than four years. Having one out of college (4 years with a transfer!) one in college, and one going in a year, I have seen and heard some amazing marketing and business practices in colleges.

You won’t find links — they would never publish it.

But, basically, colleges have gone from educational institutions to profit centers, so letting kids out in four years lowers the profits.

I could explain what we have heard and experienced here, but it would be better if she wants to email me and ask questions — or even arrange to talk on the phone, if she wants help based on experiences! [email protected]

Hey — maybe I’ll write a book on it!

No links here either, but I am a different story. I had crap for parents and as soon as I graduated highschool I moved out and had no financial support whatsoever. We also weren’t on speaking terms. I had to take on a full-time job to pay for my living expenses as well as for my education. Therefore, I was limited to night courses and only 3 at max per semester.

I had this conversation with a professor of mine last year. She said she thinks it’s because of several things, like schools adding more classes to the required criteria and also because more students are having to work and go to school at the same time. There’s probably a lot of reasons.

Some tougher degrees take more than 4 years to complete. Some people piss away their first couple years of college and have to retake classes.

OR some of us work full-time and can only take 9-10 hours a semester so it takes longer, even when you combine summer classes. Its not just because people are slackers.