Drew Veskauf was prepared to graduate this semester, before he discovered something was going to prevent him taking up his cap and gown.

The journalism and history major met with his academic advisers and discovered he needed two more classes, and one class was only offered in the fall.

Students concerned they are not going to meet all of their requirements are recommended to view their academic advising report at MyNIU and track their progress with academic advisers, according to the NIU registration and records website.

Many students in Illinois come to college unprepared, said Earl Hansen, an NIU representative for the Faculty Advisory Council to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Some students use up grant money completing remedial classes before they can graduate, he said.

Veskauf said he did not feel anything at NIU caused a delay in his graduation. He said he completed all of his education requirements when he got his associate’s degree at Illinois Central College (ICC).

However, Veskauf said he did not visit his advisers as often as he should have because he did not have a good experience with advisers when he attended ICC, so he decided to schedule his NIU classes himself.

“It would have been nice to sit with an adviser and have them tell me what to take if I’m interested in a certain subject instead of doing it all by yourself,” Veskauf said.

Veskauf said he notices some students in his class are in the same predicament as him. However, he said he noticed there are a lot of students like him at various Illinois universities.

He said he is frustrated because he planned to find a job after college.

“I spent the beginning of this semester and a little bit of last semester putting together a resume to start looking for a job after this,” Veskauf said.

He now plans to make the best of a bad situation by working on his resume and hunting for jobs.

The Academic Advising Center’s FAQ recommends students meet with their advisers regularly. The NIU Four Year Degree Paths website is available for students who want to keep track of their academic progress by college and ensure they are taking the necessary classes. The deadline to apply for graduation fall 2012 is July 1.