It seems that two more years in college can cost students $300,000 over your life.
They are called "super seniors." They can be seen milling around the campus and they have added a few more years to their university time. This causes low graduation rates for schools. And low graduation rates hurt a school's reputation.
Which is why many schools and state universities are finding ways to cut back on the "super seniors." College and university administrators are telling their current students to "hurry up."
NerdWallet analyzed that two additional years in school can cost $300,000 over a person's life, including money spent on tuition and student loans, lost income and missed retirement savings.
Schools have already started the campaign. It starts out small. According to Market Watch, schools have started dishing out "Class of '17" bumper stickers to encourage students to amp up to their graduation year. In addition to that small start, schools are also changing how they price a semester to make it easier to stay on pace to graduate. They have notified students that are eligible to graduate that they should graduate soon. School administrators also altered the classes offered in a given term to help them take the necessary courses in order to succeed. Wall Street Journal also cited that Cleveland State University President Ron Berkman said that the most effective way to lower student loan debt is to lessen the time it takes to complete the course.
Cleveland State University has already started charging the same price for 18 credits as for 12 in one semester. Because of the changes made by Cleveland State, the school's four-year graduation rate has already doubled between the class of 2007 and 2011. It is still lower than expected but it is a significant change. According to statistics, four in ten students who had taken a four year course in 2008 have graduated with the four years intended time. Over-all, the "super seniors" hung around for an additional two more years.
To understand what is going on in the financial world, check out this TED Talk below about student debt crisis.
