A new study released this month from the Department of Education shows that college students are completing their four-year degrees at nearly the same pace they were 30 years ago, despite the popular notion that students take an increasingly long time to complete their studies.

Principal Indicators of Student Academic Histories in Postsecondary Education, 1972-2000 shows that two out of three traditional age students (ages 18 to 26) who attend a four-year college at any time will wind up with a bachelor's degree by their late 20s, notes Clifford Adelman, senior research analyst at the department's Institute for Education Sciences.

Using longitudinal transcript data for the high school classes of 1972, 1982, and 1992, Adelman found that the average time to receive a bachelor's degree has increased from 4.34 years to just 4.56 years.  He notes that students are now completing a higher number of credits before getting their degrees, particularly in the fields of engineering and nursing.

Adelman's research "has always been the gold standard in helping us understand the issues surrounding student persistence," said AFT Higher Education director Larry Gold.  "His latest report demonstrates how wrongheaded it would be to reduce government funding for colleges whose students do not complete their degrees in a specific amount of time. Given how much education goes on that does not end in a degree within the arbitrary time span, we don't want to see a federal policy that punishes the student or the institution, especially if it's based on inconsequential data."

There are many valid reasons why students may take slightly longer to obtain their degrees, Adelman says.  "Do we really want nursing majors to drop their clinics and externships?  Do we really want engineering majors to bypass co-op?  Do we want to tell the 40 percent who change major--and lose time--that it isn't allowed?"

Only 8 percent of the bachelor's degree recipients in 1999-2000 first enrolled prior to 1986, a 14-year bracket.  The average time to complete a degree for these students was 22.5 years, which is usually due to family structure, says Adelman.

The study also covers demographic issues, access and participation, curriculum, grading and remediation.  [Brian Dolber]

[March 14, 2004]