Going through high school, students assume college is a four-year program. But once in college, they find out that it may take longer — maybe a lot longer.

Younger students seem hopeful that they will complete their bachelor’s degree in four years.

Chelsea Yeager, a freshman and marketing major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is one of them.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll graduate in four years,” Yeager said.

Katie Caldwell, a junior majoring in nursing, knows she will graduate in four years. But it did not come easily. She took more than 12 credits a semester and even went to summer school to keep up with her studies.

“I know lots of people who have been here as long as I have and will not be graduating with me,” Caldwell said. “It’s because they failed a class or took less than 12 credits in a semester.”

Older students seem to be less optimistic (or maybe more realistic).

A senior and transfer student from UW-Waukesha who wishes to remain anonymous said he hopes to graduate at the four-and-a-half-year mark with a degree in information studies. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in when he was at UW-Waukesha, so it pushed him back a little.

Almost all transfer students said they think the fact that they transferred has anything to do with how long it will take them to graduate. Most said taking longer than four years to complete their degrees is due to undeclared majors and falling behind with credits.

In order to be at sophomore standing, the least amount of credits one needs is 24. To be considered a junior, the requirement jumps to 58 credits. This cannot be done if one is enrolled part-time.

Michael Gaffrey, a graduate student and a psychology teaching assistant, said transferring to UW-Madison for his final years of undergraduate school is what set him back a semester.

“They have foreign language requirements there,” Gaffrey said.

Different schools have different requirements and classes altogether. If a student does not enroll at UWM until after two years into a college career, the student may have missed out on some classes that were not available at the previous college but are required here.

Transferring to a different school is not all fun and games, but it is possible to do it and be done in four years. One just needs to know exactly which classes to take and when. It is a good idea to touch base with an academic adviser every semester because they are extremely helpful in organizing the schedule that will allow a four-year plan to happen.

Other circumstances can keep students from graduating on schedule.

Iesha Walls is still at sophomore status but has been attending UWM since 2002. Why has she been here so long?

“I had a baby and took one semester off,” Walls said.

Walls has taken a few summer classes but said, “I still have no idea when I will graduate.”

No matter what the situation is, students do not seem to get discouraged even if it may take them an extra semester or two to complete their degrees.

Mary Kasum, a French professor at UW-Waukesha, said that different majors have different-length programs.

For example, education majors rarely get done in less than five years unless they go to summer school. In these cases, it is not that the student is doing something wrong or under difficult circumstances, that is just how the program works.

UWM can keep its title as a four-year university because it truly can be done. It just seems that in order to graduate in four years, most students have to work extra hard and know exactly what they are going for.

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