The light at the end of my tunnel just got a little farther away. After much texting and e-mailing I finally received an e-mail response from my unusually uncommunicative son yesterday admitting that in all probability (his words) he will not graduate until December. It took me a minute to regain my equanimity after that news. I’m still awaiting answers to various questions of the, “how did that happen?” variety.
When I graduated from college twenty-six years ago (gasp), the norm was to finish in four years. If you were still in college in your fifth year people started calling you a professional student (if they were nice). More and more it seems the norm is five years. At OleMiss, where my son is in the fall of his senior year, or so I thought, the students are required to meet with an advisor each semester. That advisor advises them what to take. The first time this happened was during orientation week when all the parents were present. After spending a lot of time convincing us to turn our babies over to them, they took our kids away and signed them up for their first semester of college. My son came back happily clutching his first college schedule. He was signed up for twelve hours! I remember the average semester when I was in school was eighteen hours. A light load was fifteen. One semester I took twenty-one hours. When I expressed my hesitation over that course load, he said his advisor had warned him that his parents would probably have some reservations but that this was the best way to transition in to college. Okay, they know best, I gave my son into their hands.
Let me hasten to say that in no way do I absolve him of responsibility for his situation. He should have known where he was and where he needed to be in order to graduate in May. I do log in to his college account fairly frequently so I know he didn’t get here by signing up for and then dropping classes. He got here by not taking enough hours each semester. My understanding is that the students sit down with their advisor each semester and have a conference in order to figure out what classes to take for the following semester. I’m sure my son took exactly what he was told to take. I can’t help but wonder if what he was told to take wasn’t designed to take five years to complete. He took nine hours in summer school last summer. Those hours plus the hours he is still short will add up to one more year beyond the four upon which I was counting. If that’s the case, I’m a little disgusted with the University of Mississippi. I was very impressed with the whole advisor system at the beginning but now I’m not so sure. In fact, I’m feeling vaguely manipulated. I want him to graduate, so we will do what needs to be done in order to make that happen but I’m feeling pretty dismayed at the moment.
Financial aid notwithstanding, single-handedly putting a child through college is tough. Single-handedly putting a child through college while trying to fund an emergency account, invest in my retirement and pay down my debt is tougher. I made some financial decisions in the last few months based on being free of that obligation by May. I have also been working on some personal decisions, namely moving to New York, based on that same timeline. This news is too fresh but I’ve got some serious thinking to do.
Do you have a kid in college or are you fairly recently graduated yourself? Did it take four years or five?
When I graduated from college twenty-six years ago (gasp), the norm was to finish in four years. If you were still in college in your fifth year people started calling you a professional student (if they were nice). More and more it seems the norm is five years. At OleMiss, where my son is in the fall of his senior year, or so I thought, the students are required to meet with an advisor each semester. That advisor advises them what to take. The first time this happened was during orientation week when all the parents were present. After spending a lot of time convincing us to turn our babies over to them, they took our kids away and signed them up for their first semester of college. My son came back happily clutching his first college schedule. He was signed up for twelve hours! I remember the average semester when I was in school was eighteen hours. A light load was fifteen. One semester I took twenty-one hours. When I expressed my hesitation over that course load, he said his advisor had warned him that his parents would probably have some reservations but that this was the best way to transition in to college. Okay, they know best, I gave my son into their hands.
Let me hasten to say that in no way do I absolve him of responsibility for his situation. He should have known where he was and where he needed to be in order to graduate in May. I do log in to his college account fairly frequently so I know he didn’t get here by signing up for and then dropping classes. He got here by not taking enough hours each semester. My understanding is that the students sit down with their advisor each semester and have a conference in order to figure out what classes to take for the following semester. I’m sure my son took exactly what he was told to take. I can’t help but wonder if what he was told to take wasn’t designed to take five years to complete. He took nine hours in summer school last summer. Those hours plus the hours he is still short will add up to one more year beyond the four upon which I was counting. If that’s the case, I’m a little disgusted with the University of Mississippi. I was very impressed with the whole advisor system at the beginning but now I’m not so sure. In fact, I’m feeling vaguely manipulated. I want him to graduate, so we will do what needs to be done in order to make that happen but I’m feeling pretty dismayed at the moment.
Financial aid notwithstanding, single-handedly putting a child through college is tough. Single-handedly putting a child through college while trying to fund an emergency account, invest in my retirement and pay down my debt is tougher. I made some financial decisions in the last few months based on being free of that obligation by May. I have also been working on some personal decisions, namely moving to New York, based on that same timeline. This news is too fresh but I’ve got some serious thinking to do.
Do you have a kid in college or are you fairly recently graduated yourself? Did it take four years or five?
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8 comments:
i'm doing it in 4 but i'm practically killing myself to do it! i did switch majors halfway through, though. if i'd started out with a comp sci major, i could have easily done it in 4.
Thanks, Leah, for the comment. I'm sure I don't have the whole story yet! Congratulations to you!
My kids are in the Univ. of California system. It instituted a new policy that end-of-year sophomores MUST declare a major, even if they came in with a bunch of AP units. The Dean of Students stated that it was instituted to kick students out in 4 years - as if their "fees" weren't enough.
@Anon - wow, that is a surprise to me!
My son is on the "3 year plan" as he calls it. He has a double major and came in with enough credits to be classified as a sophomore. He is very careful about making sure each class he takes fits into either one of his majors or general education requirements.
He is also on full scholarship so I would actually prefer he take an extra year for undergrad but he wants to be get into grad school the sooner the better in his opinion.
I think the norm here is 5 years for undergrad.
@debtfree - you are lucky to have such a conscientious son! Once it's over it won't matter any more but another semester of college sure wasn't in my plan!
I am a college teacher and have a son in a state school. I am appalled by the advising at large schools. Note to students: don't change your major! don't add on minors or certificates! Just finish. Your major is of little consequence on the job market...except for rare exceptions.
Hi Frugal Scholar, I was happy to read your comment. It makes me feel like I'm not imagining things!
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