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Class of 20?? Most freshman need more than four years

Welcome to college, Class of 2018! It's the best four years of your life. Except that most students who start at public universities this fall won't graduate in 2018.

Welcome to college, Class of 2018! It's the best four years of your life.

Except that most students who start at public universities this fall won't graduate in 2018.

Nationally, about one in three freshmen in public colleges graduates within four years; New Jersey public students fare slightly better, with about 40 percent graduating in that span.

Most students do graduate within six years, but one of the biggest effects of those extra two years is cost.

At Rowan University, students who graduate in six years owe 15 percent more in student loans than classmates who graduate in four. Across the Rutgers system, the average student-loan indebtedness is 36 percent higher for six-year graduates, according to state data.

"The difference between the four-year graduation rate and the six-year graduation rate is that the four-year students came in fairly clear with what they were going to do," said Jim Newell, provost of Rowan University, where about 40 percent of students graduate in four years. "Students chose to go slower, students changed what they were doing, so things didn't line up, or students hit a bump."

The College of New Jersey has the highest four-year graduation rate for a state college, with 72 percent of freshmen receiving diplomas four years later. Ramapo College is second, at 60 percent.

Rutgers University's four-year graduation rate has floated above 50 percent in recent years at its New Brunswick campus. The most recent numbers show Rutgers-Camden at 27 percent.

The four-year rate "will never be close to 100 percent," Newell said.

Colleges and universities usually focus on the six-year graduation rates, Newell said, in large part because most students who do not graduate in six years never end up receiving a degree.

Graduation rates are complicated by a mix of factors, thanks to the increasingly diversifying population, said Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington.

"College should still be four years, which is why we reference, in 2014, the Class of 2018," she said.

But as the number of nontraditional, international, and transfer students increases, as well as those who need remedial, developmental education, she said, "we will see more people taking longer to graduate."

"The colleges need to figure out a way to change the nature of the institution in order to meet the reality of today's students," she said. "But too often we want to change the students to accommodate the university."

At Rowan, where three in 10 full-time, first-time freshmen don't graduate in six years, some students drop out because they are not mature enough for college or realize it isn't right for them, Newell said.

"We'll get some number of students who start in college and realize college is hard - it's not 13th grade - and realize it's not what they want to do with their life," he said.

Two other major contributors for six years becoming the new reality are finances and academic drift, Newell said. Students who juggle work and class may take fewer credits, have less time to devote to class and thus get lower grades, or take time off from school, he said. Others come in with an undecided program of study, change majors, or dabble in multiple majors before settling on one, he said.

At Rutgers-Camden, transfer students outnumber freshmen. The vast majority commute, most work, and many are from educational backgrounds that require some developmental courses, said Julie Amon, the school's associate chancellor for academic services.

The four-year notion "came from a time when the college-going population was very homogenous," she said. "It was honestly white male, and very affluent. And we are very much of a different population now."

Still, the schools agree, the goal is to move students through college as quickly and successfully as possible. Amon said she hoped to increase graduation rates each year through new initiatives such as eight-semester templates, early academic warnings, and flexible scheduling.

Rutgers-Camden also plans to make academic advising visits mandatory throughout enrollment, not just at orientation.

"It's not just about picking classes; it's not just checking off: 'Did you take these general education requirements?' 'Did you take these major requirements?' " Amon said. "It's really realizing that advising is about supporting the whole student."

At Rowan, changes to the advising system include expanding the number of advisers and creating a mentor system so each student has both an academic adviser and a faculty mentor.

The school also is now in its second year of a computer tracking program that helps students, faculty, and advisers communicate on students' progress, said Rory McElwee, Rowan's associate vice president for student retention.

"There are many more students who are getting the early feedback and are coming in to our support services. Our tutoring has been steadily increasing," McElwee said. "Professors are saying that when they raise a flag in [the system], they're finding students are having a much more serious response to it."

Rowan, which assigns advisers based on academic discipline, also has set up an "exploratory studies" program, so undecided majors have dedicated advisers to help them plan courses.

In the meantime, the school has no plans to drop the use of "Class of . . ." freshman welcome. Setting the bar at four years is still a worthwhile standard, Newell said.

"When they come in the door, if they stay on the path that they came in on, and they are successful, they will graduate in four years," he said. "Forty-five percent of the students who start here will graduate in four years."