According to LegallySociable.com, less than 35 percent of students at a four-year college actually get their degree in four years. This statistic personally scares me. I would like to graduate in four years like I was lead to believe when I first started college. Lately, this dream has been looking dimmer and dimmer.
When registering for classes, it seems classes I need to take aren’t being offered the semester I was planning on taking them. This doesn’t seem right.
I was once given a nice piece of paper that told me when each class is offered; every even year spring, every odd year fall. So I took the initiative and planned out my three-year plan according to that nice piece of paper I thought I could trust.
But no, not only is my schedule being messed up, but so is the number of semesters that I will need to be here. Based on the number of classes getting canceled and changed, my three-year plan is now down the drain and I may be a college student for longer than I anticipated.
At larger colleges, like KU and K-State, there are more classes offered each semester, making it easier for larger, public universities to get their four-year bachelor degree students out on time. I think students at Ottawa should also be given the chance to graduate on time.
If it were up to me, each student would come in their freshman year, they would tell their advisor their major, and their advisor would give them a required schedule for three-years, giving them their freshman year to complete breadth area classes.
With that, the student would have each class they need to take and would be told exactly when they needed to take it. That schedule would never be changed, and wouldn’t give too many options for error. It would be a set-in-stone schedule so each student would be reassured they would graduate on time, no questions asked.
If a student decided to switch their major their junior year, there would still be a way they could graduate on time. The school would make it possible for them to take the required classes in two years; it might require summer classes or more than 15 hours a semester, but they would make sure it would happen. No one would be penalized if they found out a major wasn’t right for them.
With this, it would make college so much easier in my eyes. No one would have to stress about what classes they are taking each semester, whether their class times conflicted, or whether they need a prerequisite to take a specific class.
It isn’t fair for a university to switch schedules every semester. Some students can’t afford to be in college for more than four years.
It’s understandable sometimes that there isn’t a professor available for a certain semester, but I feel like that’s an easy fix. Find out when the professor can have the class, and then make it happen.
Professors shouldn’t be able to switch it up on us. They should be forced to keep their word. We are trying as hard as we can to get out of here in four years, so why can’t the school and professors help us out?