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Four-Year Degree Guarantee Now Available — But It’s Not for Everyone

May 12, 1997

Freshmen students entering UW–Madison in the fall will have a new option — entering an agreement with the university that will guarantee that they can earn their degree in four years or have the university pay for any additional courses they need to graduate.

But students shouldn’t reach for their pens to sign on just yet. There are a number of factors to consider before entering into such a transaction.

The UW System Board of Regents is instituting the so-called four-year graduation agreement option on a pilot basis this fall at two UW System campuses — UW–Madison and UW-Milwaukee. It is expected to be in place at all UW System schools by fall 1998. And, says Janet Vandevender, an associate dean for student academic affairs in the College of Letters and Science, it will offer some assurance of timeliness for students who enter four-year degree programs and don’t deviate from their educational plan.

However, she adds, the four-year option probably isn’t feasible — or even desirable — for many UW–Madison students.

In order to qualify, students must attend SOAR, the summer orientation program for new students; they must contact their advisers each semester; they must take required courses whenever the courses are available, even early in the morning, in the evening or on Saturdays; they must complete one-quarter of the credits needed to graduate in each 12-month period; they may have to attend summer session at some point in their four years; and they may find it difficult or impossible to keep up with the agreement requirements if they drop a course, repeat a course, or change majors.

If students in the program keep their end of the bargain, and cannot obtain their degree by the end of the summer session of their fourth year because the university has not made courses available, says Vandevender, then the university will pay for the cost of the tuition for the course or courses the students still need to graduate.

“But there are no special privileges for students in this program,” says Vandevender. “They don’t have automatic access to required courses before anyone else, and they don’t get to register early. We are committed to making courses available to students so they can graduate on a timeline suitable for their educational plan.”

The program also doesn’t apply to students in five-year programs on campus, such as education, many engineering majors, international business, and a number of other study areas, Vandevender says.

Moreover, university officials don’t expect the program to increase the number of students who get a degree in four years. For one thing, they say, it is already possible for students in four-year programs to graduate in four years, and many do.

“In the past, students sometimes couldn’t get through as quickly as they wanted because they couldn’t get required courses when they needed them,” Vandevender says. “We have paid much more attention to that issue in recent years. We’re still not perfect, but the situation has improved tremendously.”

For another, the average amount of time it takes students to get their degrees here has not changed for 40 years, and officials don’t expect the new option to affect that. On average, it now takes students four-and-a-half years to complete their undergraduate degree work, the same as it did in 1958.

And, says Vandevender, it may not necessarily be a good idea to commit to a four-year plan. “It cuts short the options students have, and many students need to explore options to find what’s really right for them,” she says. “That can be an important part of getting a good education.”

For more advice
The following are school and college contacts for the four-year degree pilot program:

Tags: learning