<p>At a college, what is a fourth level of a language. A class at the 400-level?
If so, how far will 5 years of HS Spanish go?</p>
<p>As a general rule of thumb, a year of a high school class is about equal to a semester college course. At my university, I believe, the language classes are set up so that there are 2 semesters of introductory language (1000 level courses), 2 semesters of intermediate (2000 level courses), and then advanced courses (3000-4000 level). With 4 years of Spanish, this could mean that you could test into a 3000 level course (though the procedure and what is allowed varies significantly by university). However, the quality of language instruction varies significantly in high school, and most people do not test this high to start at college. After 5 years of German, I did test into 5th semester courses, but they were not being offered at the time. 
Depending on how strong you are as a Spanish student, 5 years could probably put you anywhere from semester 3-5 of Spanish, which would likely mean a 2000 level class.</p>