That seems like rationalization to me. It’s the equivalent of an undergrad school touting its 6-year graduation rate (and ignoring 4-year) bcos by then most/all of the grads have jobs.
And no, Chicago’s time to degree is not “marginally longer,” it’s much longer than its peers. Yale gets them out in 6 years, some in 5. Is the Chicago English PhD that much stronger/better than Yale’s?
https://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/ProgramStatisticsHUMEnglish.pdf