Some Look to Graduate Early
By Kurt Wagner
Santa Clara may be quick to point out it's four-year graduation rates over state schools' slower rates, but with tuition increasing 4.5 percent over last year, many students jump at the opportunity to graduate even earlier.
A Santa Clara study conducted last fall found that roughly 20 percent of students from 2004-07 were graduating without completing a full 12 quarters, said Santa Clara Assistant Provost L. Suzanne Dancer. At Santa Clara, graduating one quarter early saves over $13,000 in tuition alone.
Students complete graduation requirements early in a number of ways. The study found that transferring units or bringing in AP units from high school were most common, said Dancer. Although on the quarter system, taking a full docket of classes consistently can also put students in position for early graduation.
While the decision to graduate early may save student bank accounts, early graduates can negatively impact university budgets.
"It was not good for our attempts to budget what our expenses were going to be at the university," said Dancer. "(Tuition) is a basic building block of our budget."
With the steep cost of higher education — and student loan debts cracking the $100 billion mark for the first time last year — Santa Clara Career Center Director Elspeth Rossetti doesn't blame students for saving money when possible.
"We really understand when (a student) says, ‘I can get out of here in December,'" said Rossetti. "More and more students are carrying student loans... it's hard to graduate with a burden of many thousands of dollars."
Graduate Anna Callaghan, 21, ended college last month with the completion of her last final nearly six months before the majority of her fellow classmates. With loans quickly growing, the decision to finish early and save money for her and her family was too hard to pass up.
"Money was definitely the motivating factor, which is not something the university wants to hear," she said.
Callaghan will use the time off to work full-time, and work on graduate school applications — motivation for many students to graduate early.
"If you come into college knowing what major you want to be and start knocking out requirements fall quarter of freshman year," said Conklin, "there is no reason you can't graduate early."
However, while saving money and getting a jump on graduate school applications may be benefits, disadvantages still remain. Early graduates get a jump into the job market, but often times at the expense of good timing, said Rossetti, who pointed out that company recruitment cycles tend to focus on students who graduate in the spring. With many companies now hiring directly from their internship pools, according to Rossetti, spring internships are more important than ever.
In Kasey Conklin's case, his hospital internship requires that he receive course credit, meaning he will need to pay for individual credits after even graduation. While Santa Clara encourages its students to take only paid internships, some fields like entertainment and wealth management tend to offer unpaid internships, meaning students may be required to pay for course credit even after they graduate.
Roughly half of Santa Clara's advertised internships are paid, down from closer to 85 percent prior to the recession, said Rossetti.
Finishing college doesn't mean expenses toward career preparation are over.
"In essence, I'm paying the hospital to work," said Conklin. "I've asked not to receive credit. But I need the experience."
Contact Kurt Wagner at jwagner@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4849. A previous version of this article first appeared on USATodayCollege.com.