When you’re a senior in high school, people always bombard you with questions about where you’re going to school, what you will major in, what organizations you will join or start, what career you eventually want and many more overwhelming questions.
Even before you start applying to colleges you get asked these questions that make you take an in-depth look at where you want to go. With this, the financial realities set in soon. If you can get into Stanford or Harvard, that’s great, but do you want to be in thousands of dollars of debt? Our undergraduate education and its experiences have a price tag.
With the rather large price tag of college in mind, I started preparing in high school for taking off a few semesters of my undergraduate career. Taking college and AP classes were ways that helped me get ahead before coming to NC State. I was fortunate to already have an idea of what I wanted to major in college and have as a career. Also, taking summer classes helped me get ahead so I could graduate early without having to take 18 credit hours every semester.
So, is it worth it to graduate early and save money? I always get asked if I will feel like I am missing out on my full college experience. Personally, I do not feel like I will miss out on anything that would be life changing that could happen within two semesters costing about $23,000 total. Students sometimes fail to realize that if you come in with a decent amount of credit hours from high school and maintain a balanced class schedule, it really is not that difficult to graduate early.
It is actually a new trend that is starting — more people are graduating early and are traveling or pursuing masters or entering the workforce immediately. According to Forbes, in 2015 there was a 30 percent increase in Duke students who graduated early. At NC State, 78 percent of students finish their undergrad degree within six years. Should there be a shift in our mindset at NC State to try to graduate within the standard four years and even pursue graduating in three years?
The stigma against taking an extra year or two of college — you added an extra major, found out you did not enjoy the one you were pursuing for the past two years, or unexpected life circumstances occurred — should be dismantled, but that does not mean we should all believe in adding one to two extra years of debt.
Sometimes, we get caught up in taking an “easy A” class to boost our GPAs and to simply have fun in a class that does not relate to our majors. While this is fun and can be a reprieve from day-to-day struggles in difficult classes, we fail to recognize that we are still paying a large amount of money to take that class.
As students, we already struggle with four years of student loans, so why are we sometimes encouraged to take an extra year or two at NC State? When I say I am graduating in three years, I do not receive praise or congratulations for my dedication in my classes. Rather, I am told to slow down and enjoy my college experience. I should not rush into life. I should take a gap year and travel abroad.
I am told about all these pathways and experiences I “should” take, but what if that is not me, and I want to graduate in three years as a way to differentiate myself — a way to demonstrate how hard a worker I am? There are many different pathways people can take during college and in their professional life, so there really is no correct way that we “should” all be following.
Some students may prefer to take a gap year or double major meaning staying in college for five or six years. I do not think that should be discouraged, but graduating in three years has allowed me to put the extra savings toward pursuing graduate school, which will ultimately lend more weight to my career. Saving money from that fourth year of undergrad will go towards my graduate education, but for many it is a way of not occurring as much student debt. It is without a doubt a pathway worth taking.
