College Course Indecision and Expenses

Ask young students at breakfast what they want to be when they grow up and the answer will change three times before lunch. Ask them when they are 18 and the answer is unlikely to be any more decisive.

General statistics of college-bound students show that nearly eighty percent of them have not chosen a major by the time they finish high school and enter college. But they are still expected to pick schools, and apply to and start degree programs without knowing where they want to end up. It is little wonder 50 percent of those who do declare a major, change majors—with many doing so two and three times during their college years.

While it is difficult enough watching children struggle to find their life’s path, it can also be costly. With tuition averaging nearly $13,000 a year at public universities, indecisiveness can drain college savings accounts as students restart course sequences or transfer schools—often losing credits in the process. Ultimately they risk extending their college days beyond the four years parents planned to finance.

According to the College Board, five and six-year students are not uncommon, and roughly 40 percent of those who start a four-year degree program still have not earned one after year six. But while the graduation rates are better at private schools where higher tuitions provide incentive not to linger, long-termers can still be found. Such extended stays are not new, and the overall numbers have been consistent over the last few years. However, this creates problems for colleges as the longer students take to graduate, the fewer the slots there are for new students coming in.

Some schools (e.g., the University of Wisconsin) have instituted an ‘excess credit’ surcharge to encourage students to move on with their lives. The surcharge, which kicks in at 30 credits above the 135 normally needed to graduate, doubles a student’s tuition. Though assessed on a case-by-case basis, it is currently being applied and other schools are taking note.

There are a variety of good reasons for dragging a college career into its fifth and sixth years—from taking time off for foreign study, to taking advantage of internships or needing to balance academics with part-time employment to pay tuition. But changing majors is the one thing that drives up an education’s cost while potentially driving down a student’s self-esteem. It is also the easiest to avoid.

The key is helping students—preferably while still in high school—identify those areas of study best suited for them before the college tuition clock ever starts ticking. We have our juniors take the OASIS-2 (Occupational Aptitude Ssurvey and Interest Schedule) and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to do just that. A student’s responses to questions regarding personal interests, temperaments, value systems and academic history are matched to those majors where they are most likely to find success and satisfaction. The choices they are presented with are much broader than most parents and many high school students would generally know about.

I have taken these tests. The results accurately reflected not only the major choices I dealt with some 35 years ago but also the odd career path I followed. Had I taken these tests when I was much younger, it probably would have saved me a great deal of time and agony in developing a realistic career path.

While surveys and tests such as these can help focus a student’s attention on potential courses of study, there is often a tendency to apply the results too inflexibly with a “the test says I should be a florist, so that’s what I have to be’” attitude. But we favor another exercise to help undecideds identify and translate interests into majors and eventually careers they will succeed in and enjoy. When all else fails, follow the path that best uses your demonstrated talents and interests, and passions. The point is to help them understand what things excite them and what careers are connected to those things, and which majors would lead them towards those careers.

However they get there, encouraging students to think things through before choosing a school or program can help them avoid future frustration, academic let-down or feelings of failure. It is also key to helping them graduate in as few years as possible and move into their ‘real’ lives before they out-spend their college savings accounts.

Tips for helping choose a major

What can we do to help their children get through college in a timely fashion? Here are some suggestions compiled from conversations with academic advisors who work with undecided college students:

• Refrain from pressuring them into making quick choices or pursuing majors associated solely with high income professions. Not everyone should or can be a doctor or a lawyer.
• Focus their attention on pursuing courses of interest, even if the immediate relationship to a major or career is not obvious.
• Help them understand that piling on majors and minors will harm rather than help them in job interviews. Potential employers will want to know why they did not just get a master's degree.
• Encourage their participation in job shadowing—going to work with people to see what their jobs actually entail and asking people they meet how they got into their careers.
• If they do enter school undecided, encourage them to follow a course of study that keeps their options open until they decide. Declaring a major just to have one can rack up the years and money spent as an undergraduate. For the first several years, having an Undeclared or General Studies major can help relieve some of the pressure and help them make better decisions in choosing a major.
• Refrain from giving them advice based on the job market of twenty-some years ago. Today’s employers need a different kind of worker and favor different degrees. As soon as doubts about their current major surface, encourage them to reassess. The sooner they change directions, the more likely they will stay on course for a four-year graduation. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics at http://stats.bls.gov/ provides a great deal of useful information to help with this.
• Urge them to take full advantage of campus advisory services to avoid floundering, shifting from one course of study to the next, and prolonging their dissatisfaction and their academic careers.
• Help them understand that a major is not a career. There are multiple paths to most careers, just as there are multiple careers that can be had from a single major. Encourage them to explore their options.
• Help them prepare academically before arriving at college to avoid spending their high-priced time on as few remedial or review classes as necessary.
• If a student is undecided, consider seeking out a college with the resources to acquaint them with all the options to make a well-founded decision. Not all schools have or emphasize such programs.
• Understand that the student-to-counselor ratio averages 450:1 nationally at the high school level (compared to our private school offering a student-to-counselor ratio of 35:1). Do not rely on high school counselors alone to guide students through the exercise of choosing a major if you are faced with a high student-to-counselor ratio; consider using the services of an academic placement counselor to help you.