Luke Hingtgen, a junior music composition major, has switched majors four times.

Hingtgen, who has been oscillating between music, philosophy and English, admits he has no idea what he wants to do.

Students like Hingtgen are increasingly becoming the rule and not the exception.

NIU typically accepts 3,000 freshmen, Director of Admissions Bob Burk said. An approximate 25 percent come in as undecided majors.

Changing majors is one factor contributing to the new trend for college students to take more than four years to earn a degree.

Only about a quarter of NIU students graduate in four years, according to data collected from the Office of Institutional Research. About an additional 20 percent graduate in another year.

“The four-year, so-called standard for a degree has been growing for some time,” said Don Sevener, director of external relations for the Illinois Board of Higher Education. “It’s uncommon in most cases for students to finish a degree program in four years.”

College students staying longer to achieve a degree is not causing overcrowding at NIU, Vice Provost Earl Seaver said. Twenty-two percent of freshmen drop out after their first year at NIU.

“If you’re a member of the ‘major of the month club,’ it makes it more difficult to get through in four years,” Seaver said.

There are a number of other factors prolonging stays in college.

Students working to offset the cost of college and taking fewer credits can add time to the college stay, Sevener said. There also are degree programs that cannot be completed in four years, such as teaching degrees and certain engineering and science degrees.

Senior biology major Karen Flowers has been working part-time since her freshman year at NIU.

Flowers, who will be graduating in May after five years, restricted herself to 12 or fewer credit hours every semester.

“I never really wanted to take a whole lot of science classes at one time,” Flowers said. “I was working the entire time [and] it would be too much to juggle.”

Illinois and NIU offer many incentives for students to make it to the finish line in four years.

Starting fall 2005, undecided majors will be counseled through the Academic Advising Center, not the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Seaver said.

“The primary focus of our office is to work with students who don’t have a major, those who are re-evaluating their major and students that want to explore other options,” said Michael Broshears, director of the Academic Advising Center.

As of April 1, 600 students enrolled with undecided majors were assigned to the center for fall, Broshears said.

Monetary incentives, such as the truth-in-tuition program implemented by the state, also encourage the students to pick up their pace.

The program fixes freshman tuition rate for the first four and a half years, after which they have to pay the current tuition.

“That was a response by the government to say we would like to get students out faster and let families know so they can plan,” Seaver said.

Students who are receiving financial aid through the monetary award program (MAP) receive this award only for the first 135 credit hours for which they are enrolled, Sevener said.