The Four-Year College Myth
The premise of this blog is that the prevailing view about who attends college, and how they engage, is way off the mark. The general assumption is that students go directly to college after high school, live on a campus, and study full time. That view drives public policy decisions even though it addresses a distinct minority of contemporary college students. Roughly 85% of today’s college students are older, work, and often study part-time.
So you can imagine how pleased I was to see this Boston Globe article, which describes what it calls “the four-year college myth,” the idealized view that college students graduate from high school and go directly to a college campus, study full-time, and finish in four years. Not the way it happens. In fact, the article’s author, Neil Swidey, states that his rough calculations using federal data would indicate that fewer than 10 percent of adults who have a bachelor’s degree earned that degree in four years or less. He writes, “By definition, that’s no longer traditional. It’s radical, and it makes you wonder why we still call them four-year colleges.”
Swidey believes that the reason our perceptions are so far from reality is that the “old path still dominates at name-brand private colleges.” Maybe. But I think the answer lies more in his description of how Gerald Chertavian, founder of the successful “Year Up” program that deals with students who struggled in high school, asked participants in a summit meeting of the New England Board of Higher Education about how many had finished a bachelor’s degree in four years. About 80 percent of the hands went up. That is the way that these education leaders did it, and that is the way today’s legislative leaders did it, and that is the way many of us older folks did it. And, we just assume that nothing has changed … that the world is just going along the same old way. We fail to understand the realities of the people we claim to serve.
Not only has the world changed, but it is reasonable to expect that the current economic situation will drive even greater changes. And we throw out ideas like going to “three-year degrees,” most of which are simply accelerated programs that are totally unfriendly to students who must work and attend part-time. These programs are intended to be attractive to parents who don’t want to pay for four years if they can only pay for three years. But again, most students these days are older, working, studying part-time. What they need is the fastest and least costly track to a degree, but three years versus four years is the wrong way to think about meeting those needs.
Swidey presents some examples of students who are part of the other 85 percent. He ends by quoting Allison Hartle, who took six years at two colleges to earn her baccalaureate degree, “The traditional path is painted as being the proper thing to do, that if you don’t take it you’ve somehow failed. But that’s not true. I know a ton of kids who went off to college and wasted their parents’ money. I don’t think I wasted anything.” Swiney concludes with the statement, “How radical is that?” My answer is that it is not radical, it is real. And many, if not most, of the other 85 percent of students, who are like Allison, would say something similar. What is radically wrong is that public policy continues to be driven by outdated and inaccurate assumptions about who attends college and how they do it.
Please feel free to leave a comment.
Mike
Share This6 Responses to “The Four-Year College Myth”
Johnathan Says:
I agree with the viewpoints presented here. The usage of terms such as “four-year” degree can place undue pressure on students to complete the work in an already stressful situation. This might lead to the person just achieving a degree and not actually learning anything in the process, which it a huge disservice to all. As a long-term student (It took me 6 years to earn my B.S.), I feel that the entire experience was satisfying and not something to be rushed. As stated here, there are times when it is just not feasible to take on a full course load due to work, family, etc. It takes great courage to want something better for yourself, but even greater courage to be able to be patience and allow things to naturally progress, as they should. Obtaining a degree from any college is still a great accomplishment whether it take 4 or 40 years to do it. Some adages still ring true these days: It is not the destination; it is the journey.
Doug Says:
I graduated from high school, immediately enrolled in a private, four year college. The graduation rate of our entering class was 85%. The 15% who “couldn’t” make it and dropped out/failed to meet standards, requirements, etc, were labeled “not up to par”, “couldn’t hack it”, or worse. Heckling even occured.
Yet, a large percentage of the group completed their degrees 1-3 years later, one of whom was my freshman year roommate. I know the “teasing” he experienced had a devasting impact on him. Whild he was one of the group who finished, his sense of failure (and many of the others’) that “we” and the College communicated to them still lingers with them today, over 30 years later.
As Swidey reported in his article, the traditional path is no longer traditional. I would only add that many of the students who “swirl” or “fluid” are also affected by taking the non-tradtional (now traditional) path to graduation. there is still the connotation that somehow, because they are taking longer, are transfer students, etc, they are less capable. Some believe that they also negatively affect the academic rigor and reputation of the college.
Policy makers, political leaders, media, educational leaders, etc need to further strengthen the message that it is okay to take more than four years to complete the degree. To do this, insititutions and faculty need to be more flexible, supportive, and caring to bring out the best in students.
What I believe should make graduates, parents/guardians, families, friends, and other important persons in the lives of graduates most proud, is not just the honor and recognition of achieving a degree. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”
Mike Offerman Says:
Doug, thanks for taking time to comment and to share your experience and that of your freshman year roommate.
Mike
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Welcome to The Other 85 Percent. So what does "the other 85 percent" refer to? Research has shown that only about 15 percent of higher education students still fit the traditional definition of young adults age 18 to 22 who live on campus and go to school full time. more
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Jerry Morris Says:
Mike,
Very good analysis of the article.I agree with the statement that public policy is outdated and inaccurate. There needs to be change in the way everyone views “higher education”. I still agree with the terms “2-year” and “4-year” colleges though beacause they allow parents and students something to strive for. Typically, the parents want their son/daughter to do better than them. If the parents have no college education, then of course, a 2 or 4-year degree is considered “better”. My daughter is attending a Cal State school and most of her classmates are over 30. This tells me that traditional colleges need to re-think their strategy or else they’ll be doing a disservice to the community. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic.
Jerry
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:01 pm