Why Is Five And Six Years The New Normal For College Completion?

I was just having this conversation about this very topic and thought it was important enough to include "Finish in Four" as part of my 140-character tweet about advice on paying for college.  So, how does the NY Times Freakonomics blog answer the question "Why Does College Take So Long These Days?"

"American college students, particularly male students, have been slower and slower to finish college over the past 30 years.  A new working paper by John Bound, Michael F. Lovenheim, and Sarah Turner suggests the trend is due to rising costs of education.  Demographics and academic preparedness don’t explain the trend, but the authors found evidence in support of the increasing cost hypothesis: both increasing student-faculty ratios and cohort size are linked to increasing time-to-degree, particularly in “non-top 50 public sector” schools.  The authors also found that students are working more hours in response to rising costs.  Low-income students and students at less-selective institutions are particularly vulnerable to the trend."

Here is the summary from their working paper, bold type is mine ($5 to purchase here)

"Time to completion of the baccalaureate degree has increased markedly in the United States over the last three decades, even as the wage premium for college graduates has continued to rise. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 and the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, we show that the increase in time to degree is localized among those who begin their postsecondary education at public colleges outside the most selective universities. In addition, we find evidence that the increases in time to degree were more marked amongst low income students. We consider several potential explanations for these trends. First, we find no evidence that changes in the college preparedness or the demographic composition of degree recipients can account for the observed increases. Instead, our results suggest that declines in collegiate resources in the less-selective public sector increased time to degree. Furthermore, we present evidence of increased hours of employment among students, which is consistent with students working more to meet rising college costs and likely increases time to degree by crowding out time spent on academic pursuits."

I am wondering if the "declines of collegiate resources in the less-selective public sector" translates into "I couldn't get the courses I needed to graduate in four years."  From the Sacramento Bee, January 31, 2010: 

"California's budget crisis came into stark focus in the halls of Sacramento State last week, where many students returning for spring semester were turned away from classes they had hoped to get into, or strained from hallways to hear lectures in classes that had enrolled way more students than there were seats.

In Alpine Hall, a group of dejected seniors stood in the hallway after being booted from a writing class they must take if they are to graduate in May. It was full, they weren't on the waiting list, and the professor didn't let any extra students in."

Any other explanations out there from readers?

Comments

[Lloyd Leanse]

I think that there's a pervasive sense that the quality of life after college is very uncertain at best, so why rush it?