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Friday, April 29, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Fewer KU students graduating after 4 years
Kansan staff writer
Paul Sevy is taking six years to do what most students try to do in four: graduate from college.
"It I was more decisive and didn't have to put myself through college, I could've gotten out sooner," said Sevy, a Topeka senior.
seva said, "I started out in Fine Arts and didn't think it was doing anything for me. Then, I changed to pre-med, but I didn't think my GPA was good enough."
According to figures provided by the office of institutional research and planning, about half of the students that graduate from the University of Kansas do so in more than four years.
years.
The reason for that, students and faculty say, is that more students work while they go to college and more students are changing their majors midway through the program. Also, the presence of five-year programs increases the number of students who don't graduate in four years.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said he thought the most common reason students were taking more than four years to graduate was that the student population was becoming more diverse.
poisoned bolder said that more people who were not of the typical 18-to-21 age range were returning to college and working to put themselves through.
Amber said that another reason students were graduating later was that now, more students seemed to be changing majors than in previous years.
"Students are more likely to be exploring career options as an undergraduate than in years past," he said.
years past, the Mary Wallace, assistant to the dean of journalism, cited two reasons why some journalism students took more than four years to graduate: internships and study abroad programs.
program.
"For a small school, we have quite a few students who study abroad or do internships," she said.
Wallace said that some of the students participated in internships during a fall or spring semester, putting them behind in their graduations.
She also said that students who worked on the Kansan were encouraged to take fewer hours each semester because of the time requirements of working on the paper.
quirements for Semester-long internships are required for the students in the School of Architecture. That makes a five-year program necessary
That makes a five-year program necessary. Lois Clark, assistant dean of architecture, said that until 1980, the School of Architecture had a four-year program.
The school decided to make the change to a five-year program after the National Council of Architecture Boards ruled that architects who graduated after July 1984 would be certified as professionals only if they earned a professionally accredited degree.
The School of Education changed to five-year programs in 1981, hoping to improve the quality of its graduating teachers.
The School of Engineering also has some
five-vear programs.
Bert Soto, an El Dorado senior major in electrical engineering, said that students were taking more time to graduate because of changes in financial-aid laws.
He said he thought getting financial aid was more difficult now because of cuts in aid. That causes more students to work part-time jobs to pay for their education.
Soto said that because he had to work a part-time job, he couldn't take as many hours in a semester as someone who did not have to work and go to college.
work and go to college.
"It's a lot more taxing on an individual having to work and go to school at the same time." he said.
He said that although the electrical engineering program was set up as a four-year program, he thought it would be difficult to complete it in that time span.
"The main logic is that no one is killing themselves to get out in four years," he said. Soto said that some students who finished in four years often had to go to summer
school to do so.
Dan Cindrich, a Kansas City, Kan, senior who is planning to graduate in December 1989, also said that some students who graduated in four years took some summer school.
Cindrich said he wouldn't graduate in four years because of the extra hours he was required to take for Navy ROTC. But, he said he thought that some students took extra time to graduate because students just getting out of high school were sometimes not focused enough to study well and be sure of a major.
"I studied all of the time, but a lot of the problem with other students is that they get in the transitional stage between home and college," he said.
"It's hard trying to figure out what you are going to do for the rest of your life when you are 19 years old," he said.
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