Juniata College Guarantee: Buy Four Get One Free

[asteriskea]

<p>Article in The Chronicle of HE: with strong 4-year graduation rates, Juniata College is trying out a novel strategy in a bid to bump up application numbers - starting with the class of 2008, “Juniata College Offers Students a Guarantee: Graduate in 4 Years or Get a Year Free” (offer covers tuition, room and board not included, offer is subject to specific terms and conditions…)</p>

<p><a href=“http://chronicle.com/subscribe/login?url=/daily/2007/10/547n.htm[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/subscribe/login?url=/daily/2007/10/547n.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[northeastmom]

<p>How does one take 30 credit hours per semester? Do they mean per year?</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>That is indeed a very sharp question, northeastmom. Perhaps “No slackers need apply” ought to be tacked on to descriptions of the guarantee? </p>

<p>According to their website, the Juniata office of the Registrar SOP is to consider anything above 18 credit hours per semester an overload for freshman through senior year. </p>

<p>

An overload charge is made for all credit hours attempted above 18 per academic semester. The upper-class student who wishes to take more than 19 hours of credit must have an outstanding academic record, including satisfactory completion of all courses attempted and must obtain by petition the consent of the Student Academic Development Committee. No student may take more than 21 credit hours per semester.</p>

<p>Excluding advanced placement credit, freshmen normally are not permitted to receive credit for more than 34 credit hours that academic year. A freshman may take more than 18 semester hours of credit only during the second semester and must fulfill two special requirements: (a) satisfactory completion of all first semester courses attempted, and (b) approval by advisers and/or other appropriate faculty as determined by the Registrar…

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.juniata.edu/services/registrar/catalog/overload.html[/url]”>http://www.juniata.edu/services/registrar/catalog/overload.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[asteriskea]

<p>Article “Juniata offers 5th year free if student needs it” in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives further details and puts it at 30 credits hours per year but I think it ought to read “county” and not “country”:</p>

<p>

The offer, while not unprecedented, is unusual. Only 10 others among some 1,600 private colleges and universities make similar guarantees, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.</p>

<p>At Juniata, the offer grew out of concern that prospective students were being scared off by the advertised price and were choosing schools belonging to the State System of Higher Education and state-related universities, in particular Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh.</p>

<p>“In the last several years, particularly in Central Pennsylvania where there is still a fairly significant amount of economic distress, many people who would typically have applied to Juniata and other private liberal arts colleges no longer are even considering it,” said John Hille, Juniata’s executive vice president…</p>

<p>State system spokesman Kenn Marshall said he had a hard time seeing what was so special about the guarantee after hearing Juniata’s conditions – namely, eligibility is limited to freshmen from this country who do not transfer in from another school and maintain “qualitative academic progress” that includes taking an average of 30 credit hours per year.</p>

<p>“A four-year guarantee sounds good, but all you’re doing is requiring a student to take a full load of credits every semester,” Mr. Marshall said. “Sure, they’d graduate from Juniata in four years. They’d graduate from Shippensburg and any other of our universities in four years.”</p>

<p>He said state system tuition, fees, room and board on average cost $13,181.</p>

<p>“That’s before financial aid,” he said.</p>

<p>“For that lower price,” Mr. Marshall said. “You’re getting high quality. That’s real value.”…

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.post-gazette.net/pg/07304/829794-298.stm[/url]”>http://www.post-gazette.net/pg/07304/829794-298.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and in the Lancaster online: “Pa. private college promises tuition-free fifth year”</p>

<p>

Juniata College’s four-year guarantee will apply to all incoming freshmen who enroll in the fall of 2008, but its message is intended specifically for potential applicants who live in a 12-county region of central Pennsylvania, said John S. Hille, executive vice president for advancement and marketing…</p>

<p>Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers questioned the accuracy of Juniata’s comparison, noting that Penn State students take 4 1/2 years on average to graduate.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/pa_free_fifth_year[/url]”>http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/pa_free_fifth_year&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[northeastmom]

<p>Well, what I was thinking is similarly stated in a round about way in the article. Asteriskea, thanks for posting it. I was thinking that the student who withdraws from a class or two (whatever the reason) will not benefit from the 5th year program, so what is the point? If they took the full load they will graduate on time, UNLESS they changed majors. If they need more time to take more classes because of changing majors, it seems to be beneficial. Many students have a withdrawl or two, and then this offer would not apply since the full load was not taken for all four years. In fact, I think that this could bring in more summer class business. Students will be motivated to work less in the summer, and make up the “W” if they changed majors are not going to graduate within 4 years.</p>

[meganvirg]

<p>As many students at the larger state universities have discovered, it is often difficult to get the specific class(es) needed due to the limits on the number of students in a class (usually upper level classes). This causes some students to take a fifth or even sixth year to complete the undergraduate degree.</p>

<p>It doesn’t happen in all disciplines but it does occur enough that schools like Juniata (and Centre) giving this guarantee has merit in comparison to the situations I described above.</p>

[northeastmom]

<p>meganvirg, Thanks. I never really thought about that.</p>