NIU, ISU see graduation time increase

By Brian Slupski

If you plan on graduating from NIU in four years, the odds are against you.

A Board of Regents study analyzing incoming freshman classes between 1980 and 1986 shows a trend towards lengthening graduation times at NIU and Illinois State University in Normal.

The report showed that 51 percent of freshmen entering NIU in 1980 graduated in four years, while 41 percent graduated in five years.

For freshmen entering NIU in 1986, the figures are reversed. About 51 percent took five years, while 42 percent graduated in four years. Students who took six years to graduate remained constant at about 7 percent.

Nick Noe, NIU director of Institutional Research, said there are several reasons for the trend.

He said students are taking less hours than in the past. In 1970, around 80 percent of the students took 15 or more hours, Noe said, while in 1990 the figure was closer to 55 percent.

“Certainly lack of course sections could be a reason. But, course availability has only been a problem in recent years, this trend is longer than that,” Noe said.

Noe said rising tuition costs and the economy itself could be a factor. The ability of students and parents to pay for college has been eroded, he added.

With more students working today, time restraints limit the number of hours they can take. He said a larger percentage of full-time students are taking less than 15 hours.

Noe added that the trend seems more pervasive among male students than female ones. “I don’t know if it is related to major more than gender,” Noe said.

Noe said a contributing factor could be the fact that more males enroll in programs which are highly structured and require more hours, like engineering.

Another contributing factor to the lengthening of graduation time is an increase in part-time students at NIU. The report stated that students enrolled part-time at NIU increased from 8 percent in 1981 to 10 percent in 1991.