When Keara O’Neill accepted her spot in AU’s Class of 2013, she planned to graduate four years later with her 1,300 fellow classmates.
Instead, she will be graduating with the Class of 2012, joining the ranks of an increasing number of students that graduate early from universities across the nation.
O’Neill decided to graduate a year early after realizing during winter break that she only had six classes left to fulfill the requirements for her justice major.
“I was contemplating adding an [international relations] minor because I had already taken three of the classes, but the idea of my parents paying an extra year of tuition just so I could take classes for a minor seemed a bit ridiculous to me,” O’Neill said.
Early graduation has been slowly becoming more popular at AU, with 4.8 percent of students graduating in three years in 2007, a 0.6 percent increase from 2000, according to data compiled by AU’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.
The number does not take into account students who graduate a semester early.
The rise in student loans in recent years, combined with university policies that accept credits from Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs, has caused a national increase in the number of students who graduate early, according to a segment by Minnesota Public Radio.
Many students who choose to graduate early say saving money is their primary motivation.
“I absolutely cannot afford to be here to begin with, and I’m going to be in debt for a long time, so I might as well cut another $30,000 off that debt by graduating early,” said Amanda Merkwae, a School of Public Affairs student who will graduate a year early this May.
Many university academic officials have voiced concerns with this trend, and some, like Cornell University, have adopted policies that make early graduation more difficult as a result.
“The fourth year of college [which is cut when a student graduates early] is a time when students have the best opportunity to connect with tenured faculty, who are important sources of recommendations and mentoring in college,” said Paula Warrick, AU’s director of the Office of Merit Awards.
Warrick said she strongly encourages all students to stay at AU for the full four years unless they absolutely cannot afford to do so.
Though many students acknowledged that they would be giving up opportunities like studying abroad, interning or taking more electives by graduating early, they explained that saving money is more important.
“I will have finished all my requirements for my major, so it’s not like I’m cutting anything short, but there will always be electives within my major that I would have wanted to take because I want to learn everything I can about my field,” said Katrina Deptula, a School of Communication student who will graduate a semester early in December 2012. “I just don’t think it’s worth it to stick around because money is a big priority.”
Sylvia Brookoff, a sophomore in SOC, has decided not to graduate early for this reason, explaining that the opportunities AU provides have made her hesitant to graduate early.
“Graduating early may cause me to potentially miss out on finding something new or exciting I enjoy that could be gained through extra classes, internship experiences or extracurriculars,” Brookoff said, adding that she believed these experiences were important for entering a competitive job market after graduation.
Megan Patterson, who will graduate from the School of International Service in December 2011, said she hoped graduating early might give her an edge in finding a job.
“Based on what I’ve seen with a few friends who’ve graduated a semester early in the past, I think it’s kind of an advantage because they had a jumpstart on finding a job,” Patterson said.
Though it might not be an advantage to graduate early, it’s not necessarily a disadvantage either, according to Marie Spaulding, a Career Center adviser for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“If the student has interned to gain experience while at AU, I do not see that graduating early will adversely affect the student’s ability to find a job,” Spaulding said.
Regardless of the job market, AU students say that cutting their college experience short does not make them feel any less ready to enter the “real world.”
“I certainly don’t feel old enough or mature enough or even tall enough to graduate, but I don’t think another year would make me feel any more prepared,” Merkwae said. “I’m as prepared as I would be and otherwise I will just fake it till I make it.”
nlavin@theeagleonline.com
