By
Cyndy Cole
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Officials cite departmental problems, other obstacles that delay graduation
Freshmen trying to graduate in four years should start laying out their academic plans now, UA officials said.
By planning ahead and getting help from an adviser, both declared and undeclared students can graduate on time, said Leticia Delgadillo, assistant director of the Freshman Year Center.
"The benefit to graduating in four years is not getting left here while your friends go off and do other things," said Brady Devereaux, a political science senior.
"Fifteen units every semester, following a plan, will get (students) done in four years," Delgadillo said. "As long as you have a plan, (graduating in four years) is definitely possible."
One plan Delgadillo suggests is the "Finish in Four!" program, which is offered to freshman students by all academic departments on campus.
Students participating in Finish in Four! meet with an adviser before registration each semester. These students are assured that the courses they need to graduate on time will be available to them.
The plan tells students what types of classes they should be enrolled in for each semester, such as whether they should be taking general education classes or working on a minor.
All students on the plan must take placement exams in English composition, foreign language, and mathematics.
But incoming students don't necessarily have to enroll in a plan to get the classes they need or to graduate in four years.
"When students go to (their) department, they can usually get the course," said Tom Willard, adviser for and associate head of the English department. "If a course is not being offered, I'll find a substitute course for the students."
Some students, though, might find it more difficult to graduate in four years, depending on their major.
Communication majors, for example, often compete with other classmates for a seat in classes.
There is a 100-to-1 student to faculty ratio in the communication department, compared to the 22-to-1 student to faculty ratio that is the average in departments across campus, said Michael Dues, acting head of the communication department.
"It would be very difficult for someone to get through this department in four years without taking summer classes," Dues said. Though the department has hired three full-time lecturers, and "several" part-time lecturers, Dues said classes will still be full.
"(Overcrowding) is not something that we can fix overnight," Dues said.
But the overcrowding is temporary, said Randy Richardson, interim vice president for undergraduate education.
"These bottlenecks come and go over time," Richardson said. "We try to respond to that by adding classes and adding sections. These problems may not be there when (incoming) freshmen are seniors."
Other students in pre-major programs, like pre-business or pre-education, face the looming possibility of rejection when it comes time for them to start taking upper-division classes. Students in these programs need to be accepted into the upper-division portion of the program in order to receive a degree.
Those pre-major students who are rejected but have already taken lower-division classes must find other majors. This results in taking more units, and can add up to spending extra semesters at the UA, Willard said.
But graduating in four years is no longer the norm at the UA. Now undergraduates stay in college for five or six years, as shown on the Decision and Planning Support Web site.
Of past UA freshmen classes, approximately 25 percent of the class has graduated at the end of their fourth year, according to Decision and Planning Support.
As many as 49 percent of the same class graduate by their fifth year, and 54 percent by their sixth year.
"If you look at (UA) demographics, the difference between the U of A and Ivy League colleges is that U of A students drop (their class load) to 12 units to balance work off-campus with class," Willard said.
Willard added that the majority of freshman students are full-time, but once they hit their sophomore year, that number decreases as those students get jobs.
"If you work full time and do 15 units (45 hours of homework and class per week), something has to give," Richardson said.
Devereaux was quick to add that graduating in four years isn't easy.
"I think (graduating in four) is impossible really, unless you completely stay away from beer and have no social life," Devereaux said. "It's impossible to have the college experience and graduate in four years."
Willard also cited not taking enough units and changing majors as other common reasons that UA students stay longer than four years to graduate.
"Only about one-quarter of students graduate with the major they selected originally," Richardson said.
However, he encourages this exploration as part of the learning process.
"We are focused on helping the students who want to graduate in four years, and helping them do that, but sometimes their passions take them other places," Richardson said.
