Something that seems to be an issue for many college students, including those who attend Shepherd University, is graduating in four years.
I could not find any statistics that indicate how many students graduate on time at Shepherd University in recent years. Whether that is because this is not recorded or the school does not release these numbers is unknown.
However, I did find that the approximated student satisfaction statistic at Shepherd to be a moderate 66.8 percent according to U.S. News.
Poor academic advising, classes that are full or are not offered, and changes to graduation, major and credit requirements are just a few reasons why Shepherd students often find themselves in college longer than they predicted. Of course, students may often choose to stay in school longer than four years.
However, Shepherd needs to put more focus into helping students graduate in four years. The longer a student remains in college, the more debt he or she accumulates and graduation rates and Shepherd’s overall reputation would improve.
When I asked people around campus about this topic, many seemed surprisingly optimistic about students’ chances of graduating on time.
“Yeah, I will be graduating next year, which marks my fourth year. I definitely think it’s realistic to graduate in four years. I even failed an entire semester and I’m still graduating on time,” said junior Jordan Redman.
Senior Josh Powers responded by saying, “Graduating in four years is pretty realistic if you have the time, don’t double major and follow your course progression to the T, but if you work a full-time job or have a family, it can become pretty complicated. I’m graduating a semester late because I dropped out, but that’s not Shepherd’s fault.”
Josh was not the only student I met that believed it was possible to graduate in four years if the circumstances are appropriate but was not going to be able to themselves.
Sophomore Mark Chaney said he believed it is possible to graduate in fours years, although he does not think he will. “It is becoming very frustrating to me that as I continue going towards my junior and senior year, a lot of my classes that I need to satisfy credits are not being offered in a traceable pattern. For example, Park Management and Geography of National Parks. There is no set plan for these classes to be offered in the next year and I am having little to no luck finding out if they will be offered by 2015–2016.”
Accounting major Brian Moseley agreed with Mark’s statements stating, “To be honest, it’s not impossible, but as an accounting major, a lot of the classes are only offered at one time, so unless I’m either lucky enough to get into the class or receive an override, it will be hard to complete the classes in time to graduate in four years.”
Ultimately, most of the people that I met felt like it was possible to graduate in four years with very good planning and few obligations like work and family. Students at Shepherd often face the problem of classes they need not being offered or, even worse, a class he or she needs to take being filled with underclassmen.
There seems to be a consensus that the responsibility of graduating “on time” falls in the hands of the student. However, with many required classes not being offered, and not to mention occasional inaccurate advising, some of this responsibility falls squarely on the university.
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