Universities plead with students to graduate in four years

The University of Akron is using infomercial-style videos to talk students into taking 15 credit hours per semester. Graphics and sound effects emphasize “improved, faster-acting graduation results,” and co-hosts Chris Stimler and William “Willy” Kollman advertise the “side-effects”: “more cash in your pocket, less college debt, and a craving for an extremely large burrito.”

“It’s a serious topic, but we wanted to do something to get the attention of the audience we were going to,” said Wayne Hill, associate vice president of marketing. “We went for cheeky, not preachy.”

Though its technique might be unique, the University of Akron is not alone in its campaign to increase student course-load, especially for incoming freshmen.

Even though students taking 12 credit hours are considered full-time by federal standards, most students must take 15 credit hours each semester to graduate from a four-year institution in four years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 39 percent of first-time, full-time students who started at a four-year institution in 2006 graduated within four years. About 20 percent more graduated within two more years.

On its “Finish in Time” website, the University of Akron shows taking 12 credits instead of 16 ultimately costs its students an average of $52,600, combining the cost of another year of school with the lost income they could have earned in the workforce.

Students who take more credits also are more likely to stay in school, studies show. Complete College America reported 23 percent of students who finished between 24 and 29 credits their freshman year dropped out by the end of six years, compared to 17 percent of those who finished 30 credits.

Despite what students might think, studies also show taking fewer classes does not lead to higher GPAs. According to a University of Hawaii report released in 2013, “students taking 15 or more credits outperformed students taking fewer than 15 credits at nearly all levels of academic preparation.”

A University of Texas at Austin 2012 task force report suggests a reason for the improved academics: “A long history of scholarship has argued that students who are the most socially and academically integrated into campus life will also perform the best. Taking more hours is able to increase integration …”

If taking more credits causes students to stay in school, it also could lead to higher revenue for schools. An Educational Policy Institute 2013 report noted the 1,669 schools it studied lost close to $16.5 billion in combined revenue due to student attrition during the 2010-11 academic year.

Increased four-year graduation rates also look good on school rankings and, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, states increasingly base higher education funding on school performance—such as time to degree and number of degrees awarded—instead of enrollment. As of March, 25 states had such programs and five more planned to implement them.

Some schools are providing incentives for students who finish on time. Freshmen at the University of Central Missouri can look forward to a $1,000 scholarship for their final semester if they graduate in four years and average 30 credit hours each academic year, among other requirements.

But students and schools must take steps other than boosting course loads if they hope to increase four-year graduation rates. Many students take longer because they switch majors, and some wonder how they’re supposed to graduate on time if the classes they need are full. “Though too often used as an excuse for a number of university ills, course availability persists as a scapegoat because there is some truth to the assertion,” the UT Austin task force report acknowledged.

After introducing its F.I.T.—or Finish in Time—campaign, the University of Akron has seen a 28 percent increase over last year’s number of first-time, full-time freshmen taking 15 credit hours or more. That suggests some truth to the infomercial’s optimistic claim: “The F.I.T. sensation is sweeping over the UA nation.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.