4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2007
>> WALKING DOWN THE HILL
Few students graduate in four years
Just more than 30 percent of University students finished "on time" in 2005
BY ELIZABETH CATTELL
Michael Bretches is one of many students who will walk down the hill on May 20, but he is in the minority of students who will graduate from the University of Kansas after only four years.
In 2005, just more than 30 percent of KU students graduated in four years, according to College Results Online, collegeresults.org. About 54 percent graduated in five years and about 59 percent graduated in six years. These rankings placed the University twelfth of 15 similar institutions according to factors like size.
In the spring of 2005, administrators formed the Graduate in Four Task Force to evaluate how the University could improve graduation rates. Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success, said the task force implemented several changes that fall to encourage a four-year graduation plan.
"Overall, college is a small portion of anyone's life. But, it also needs to be part of an ordered plan."
"There have been changes in practice, such as presenting a strong and clear message that graduating in four years is an expected, possible and good thing." Roney said.
But Bretches, Futchinson senior, said graduating in four years wasn't easy.
He never took fewer than 15 hours a semester. Once he enrolled in 19 hours, a choice he admitted was a mistake.
"You wouldn't imagine how much difference that extra test a month makes," Bretches said. "It changed how I was involved in different activities. I didn't debate as competitively because I couldn't fit it in."
Bretches, an accounting major,
said working 20 hours a week
added to the difficulty of his semesters.
During the week he was at
class or work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
every day.
DIANN BURRIGHT
Associate director of the FSAC
Tom Krieshok, professor of psychology, said he understood the importance of graduating in a timely manner, but he thought a four-year plan was not the best fit for all students.
"If you want to graduate in four, you better know what you're doing." Bretches said
Exploring interests
While Bretches said he was happy with his experience at the University, he wished he had more time to take some extra courses. He said it was hard for students to discover subjects of interest quickly enough to graduate in four years.
"Some students can pick a major and have the personality style that allows them to explore and check out things as they're getting their degree. People who are really focused like that can graduate in four years," Krieshok said.
However, Krieshok said most students don't develop deep interests until later in life. They may find it hard to select a major if they feel like the clock is ticking.
"I'm antagonistic to the
part that says everybody can get this figured out in four years. If we're saying to people that you're only healthy or competent if you do it in four years, I think there's a problem with that," Krieshok said.
Roney said that while the task force wanted students to explore their interests, a stronger message was needed to motivate students.
"What we were realizing is that instead of our primary message being 'Live life fully in four years and graduate', it was, 'Hey, take as long as you want,' Roney said. "There's no reason why the vast majority of students can't graduate in four."
Most degree programs were designed to be completed in four years. Roney said if students made being a student their top priority, four years should allow plenty of time for exploration.
While it is important for students to focus on their studies, Krieshok said students should engage themselves in extracurricular activities to broaden their experiences and skills. He said graduating in four years was possible, but probably harder for students who got involved outside their schoolwork.
"The issue isn't really so much
four or five years, the issue is what you're doing in school," Krieshok said. "If you're just being a bookworm it doesn't matter to me if it takes you four years or five years. I think you're in trouble."
Steps to success
Diann Burright, associate director of the Freshmen Sophomore Advising Center, said a four-year plan could help students focus their interests, allowing them to achieve more during their time at the University.
"In order to graduate in four years you need to find the path you want to follow first. Be engaged in what you're doing and before you know it you'll graduate, and it's probably have happened in four years." Burright said.
The advising center supports the four-year policy by encouraging students to enroll in at least 15 hours each semester. Students are also required to declare a major by the time they've completed 60 hours.
Students should be aware of requirements for their major and degree program. Burright said students could stay on track while taking classes outside their major, or studying abroad as long as they planned ahead.
"Overall, college is a small portion of anyone's life. But, it also needs to be part of an ordered plan." Burright said.
Burring said the Task Force's message put pressure on students
in a positive way. "I don't feel like it's a big club that's being swung at students." Burright said. "It's an encouragement of being responsive and to come to college and take ownership of what happens to you"
to do more than they were ready for.
"Taking responsibility for your own education can be daunting if you don't know what you're doing." Lawrence said. Lawrence said she could have graduated in four years, even after changing her major to psychology and studying abroad for a semester, but chose not to.
Some students feel that the "graduate in four" message is restrictive.
"I'm paying for my own education, so I'm going to take as long as I want," Lawrence said.
She said she was looking forward to an extra year.
"I recently discovered what I want to do. Now I know what the next step is and I need another year to make those things happen," Lawrence said. "I've met and helped a lot of people in my time here and now I have one more year to focus on myself."
The task force's efforts are showing early. A report in the spring of 2006 showed the average course load for full-time freshmen in their first semester had increased three percent since the spring of 2005.
Looking to the future
Roney said more effects would be clear after freshmen from 2005 began to graduate. While a fouryear plan will never suit all students, she said an increased graduation rate would improve the reputation of the University and the quality of education.
"Taking responsibility for your own education can be daunting if you don't know what you're doing."
Mya Lawrence will be a fifthyear senior next fall. She works as a residence assistant in Elsworth Hall and as a peer advisor. She said the focus on graduating in four years sometimes pushed students
"Graduation rates are a measure of success," Roney said. "As an
What's the rush?
MYA LAWRENCE Hutchinson senior
administrator and an educator it's about doing the best job to encourage, support and enable students to be successful while they're here. It's going to be exhausting in a good wav."
Before he walks down the hill. Bretches had some parting advice for students.
"It's important that you take your time and enjoy your college experience. If that means you need to take a little bit slower of a pace, then do," he said. "When you're 30, nobody's going to care."
Edited by Darla Slipke
Algae measured in several Kansas lakes
>> BIOLOGICAL SURVEY
"We are try-
BY PATRICK LUIZ
SULLIVAN DE OLIVEIRA
Researchers hope the models will establish a correlation between increased levels of geosmin and other factors.
"The problem with geosim is that it is really expensive to measure," said Andrew Dzialowski, a research associate at the Kansas Biological Survey. "We need to find some other variable we could measure."
data from these samples and have results by the end of the summer. The researchers' goal is to develop simple ways to predict when increases of geosmin levels are likely to happen.
The Kansas Biological Survey is developing data models to help understand what conditions cause algal blooms, a common problem in Kansas' lakes. The algae produce geosmin, a substance that causes the water to taste and smell bad.
Researchers at the Kansas Biological Survey have been collecting samples from lakes since May 2006. They will analyze the
One major problem researchers have faced is the high number of variables that influence algal blooms. Because of that, they have had to monitor each lake individually. Lakes sampled so far include Clinton Lake, Big Hill Lake near Cherryvale, Gardner City Lake, Cheney Reservoir and Marion Reservoir near Hillboro.
Jason Beury, a chemistry lab assistant at the Kansas Biological
ANDREW DZIALOWSKI Kansas Biological Survey
Best management practices are ways to decrease the impact that storm water runoff have on the environment. When it rains, the nutrients from fertilizers are washed away and deposited in the lake. The algae feed off these nutrients and grow excessively - a process called eutrophication.
"What bothers me is that we are so entrained in this system of commercialized agriculture that it is hurting our lakes," Beury said.
ing to do this to help the water plant managers, so they can be alerted that they are going to have a taste and odor problem," said Paul Liechti, assistant director of the Kansas Biological Survey. "It is a heads up methodology."
"The lakes are individual themselves, so they have different characteristics that accentuate the problems." Liechti said.
"Ultimately we would like to prevent the algal blooms, but that is a really hard task because you would have to change a lot of best management practices," Dzialowski said.
blue-green algae in Marion Reservoir forced Hillsboro to suspend water pumping from the reservoir.
"You can have low oxygen in the water, which results in fish killed, and some species of algae produce algotoxins that can harm humans and animals."
In June 2003, an outbreak of a toxic form of
CA$H
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BOOKS
Making the water taste bad is not the only problem that algal blooms cause; some algae can be hazardous to the environment and human health.
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Humans can smell and taste geosmin at levels as low as five partsper trillion, and all five lakes tested have showed samples with higher levels than that.
Survey, goes to Clinton Lake at least once every two weeks to gather data samples. Temperature, acidity level and oxygen dissolution in the water are some of the measurements he gathers.
May 11 - May 18
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Kansas Union
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"You can tell if there is an algal bloom in the lake from a green or blue-green water color, but you can still have algal blooms that are not visually noticeable." Beury said. "You can also tell from the smell. It's either a fishy or a musty, earthy smell."
"You can have low oxygen in the water, which results in fish killed, and some species of algae produce algotoxins that can harm humans and animals," Dzialowski said.
- Edited by Sharla Shivers
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May 14 - May 18
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THE OFFICIAL BOOKSTORES OF KU
NATION
"At this point in time I would say to them, get into a room," Spitzer said at the annual meeting of The Associated Press. "It is an embarrassment before the nation, before the world, that we cannot pass a budget that funds our troops, that ensures their safety and their security, but the president should understand the public tolerance
Presidential candidates debate direction in Iraq
NEW YORK — Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday said President Bush and Congress need to work together to end their stalemate over the direction to take in Iraq.
for this war has run its course."
Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said the nation's founding fathers deliberately built into the Constitution tension between the branches of government, and both sides must find a way to work within those checks and balances.
"When we walk in having been elected, we have to accept that yes, we were elected but so were these other guys." Huckabee said.
Spitzer and Huckabee spoke during a lunch session moderated by outgoing AP board chairman Burl Osborne.
Last month, Bush vetoed a $124 billion bill to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan operations in past because it required troops to begin returning home by Oct. 1.
Associated Press
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