The vast majority of college students take longer than 4 years to graduate. Though not very encouraging, it does give you an advantage other students may not have—fair warning! College is not meant to be easy. You have to work at it.
Sure you can party. Everyone needs to blow off steam and unwind, but you need to allocate “play time” carefully and strategically. You can’t do whatever you want whenever you feel like it. Otherwise college could take a decade or more. If parents are helping to pay for college, that may prove entirely unacceptable.
Key Barriers
The primary obstacles come down to lack of funds and lack of self-discipline. If you don’t have a juicy scholarship, you need to get a student loan. And that usually does not pay everything. You have to make up the difference by working, and that takes time from your studies. That means even less time for partying.
Tricks to Help You Meet Your Goals
If completing college in 4 years is your goal, you need to allocate your time and your money carefully. Money poorly spent only means having to work longer hours to make up the shortfall. Starving is not an option. Studying becomes near impossible on a starvation diet. So, plan ahead and stick to your budget.
Choose the Right College. Everything can work against you if you choose the wrong college. Make sure you visit the campus before making a selection. Don’t go on name, family involvement or someone else’s criteria. Make sure you feel excited with the curriculum, the environment and the size of the school.
Pick the Right Major. Of course, you don’t have to decide right away. But when you do, choose wisely and carefully. Many students take the first two years to test the waters with different subjects to see if they fit well with their skills and personality. A student may try engineering, but find the math scares them off. Another student may take some pre-med classes only to find that the sight of blood destroys their appetite. If you have to change your major in your junior or senior year, you can kiss your 4-year plan goodbye. That’s not the end of the world. It would be better to change to a career you love than to stick with one you’ll hate for the rest of your life, but understand the consequences.
Buy Used Textbooks Cheap. Certainly textbooks are a small, though significant, part of your overall college budget, every little bit helps. You can save hundreds of dollars every semester with the right plan. There are even places where you can rent textbooks online. Once the semester is over, sell old textbooks. Some students like to highlight key points in their texts. Some textbook recycling plans don’t allow this. But that’s good. Taking more notes is actually better for retention.
It should go without saying that attending class and studying are essential. But so many party until it’s too late.
