Ten percent of degrees must have short-term programs by October
Written by Kelli Fitzpatrick Tuesday, 21 February 2012 19:18
An average of 2 percent of Kent State students graduates in three years. Most students graduate in four or five years, and one of the reasons may be lack of accelerated or shorter-term programs.
The three-year graduation rate average could increase as Kent State works to fulfill Gov. Kasich’s plan to help students save money. Kasich proposed in 2011 that all public Ohio universities offer three-year programs for 10 percent of their degrees by October 2012 and 60 percent by 2014.
Kent State currently offers 15 three-year programs and is working to reach the 10 percent requirement of 18 programs (see sidebar).
Stephane Booth, associate provost of Quality Initiatives and Curriculum, said a student should commit to a three-year program his or her first year. The shorter programs require heavier semester course loads of 18 to 21 hours.
“A fairly selective group of students would be able to do that,” Booth said. “That’s a heavy load to carry, and most of our students work. That would be a very specialized group.” Booth said the three-year programs do not require students to take summer classes, enabling them to save more money.
“It will cost less in tuition and fees; hopefully you’re graduating with less debt,” she said. “It puts you on your career path a year earlier — or a couple years earlier.”
Chelsea Knowles took part in Kent State’s Accelerated Bachelor of Business Administration program to graduate early in May 2011.
Knowles said the process was stressful because she had to take 20 credit hours each semester while working and staying involved on campus. She also took CLEP tests to test out of some courses.
She said she was also at an advantage graduating early.
“I saved a year of tuition and housing costs,” she said. “I had the opportunity to start working a year earlier, but I chose to go on for my master’s.”
Knowles is pursuing a master’s of public administration at Kent State. At 21, she said she is the youngest in most of her classes.
“They look at me as younger [and think] maybe I didn’t have time to get all the experience I needed,” Knowles said. “But people are usually impressed, [and] that sparks up a lot of conversation.”
Booth said the main advantage of a three-year program is cutting costs, but other factors may set the student back.
“I think there is a concern: Does packing so much together give the student the time to digest, make connections and develop their thinking in these areas?” Booth said. “We like to think that a four-year experience is great if you can do that at a university. It is a unique experience being shortened, but each person has to weigh for themselves the advantages and disadvantages.”
Kelly Gentile earned her advertising degree in three years at Kent State. She said graduating early was definitely an advantage.
“It was 2010 and everybody was having trouble finding jobs,” said Gentile, an assistant account executive at Marcus Thomas LLC in Akron. “I think I lucked out. [I had] a year of searching and [fewer] people to compete against. I’ve been in the work force for two years, and my coworkers say, ‘I can’t believe you’re only 22.’ It’s a really big compliment.”
Gentile said graduating in three years didn’t save her money because she took multiple summer courses.
“I was lucky enough to not have any student loans because my parents had saved up enough, but there wasn’t any left after three years,” she said.
Booth said increasing the number of three-year programs may actually help more students graduate in four years rather than five or six.
“You probably won’t see all that many students going in three years, but maybe it will help with the four-year graduation rate,” Booth said. “If we can get that [rate] up, that would be great for our students because we’re getting close to a 5 1/2-year average.”
Booth said most of the three-year programs will be under the College of Arts and Sciences. The College of Business programs require the student starts with 30 credit hours from post-secondary, AP credit or CLEP credit.
“My interest in this will be to see how many students are really going to be able to do this and commit to it,” Booth said. “If you’re really interested in this, make sure you get with an advisor so you know you’re going down the right path.”
Contact Kelli Fitzpatrick at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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