Son has 4 semesters worth of classes left but 5 semesters to go (typical 4 years U). He doesn’t want to graduate early this time. So he will be taking minimum credits as a full time student from now on.
I know he does better under pressure. Should I encourage him to take more classes and graduate early? Or get a minor? How will grad school look at his less rigor schedules?
What about adding electives of interest, whether in or out of major, if he stays for a total of 8 semesters even though he could be done in 7 semesters?
I recommend that he takes more than just the full time minimum for the time being. He can add in some fun classes he would not otherwise take. Pass/fail can be done for those. He is more likely to do better with more to do. Having too much free time can sneak up on you. I was in a situation where my last semester of undergrad I only took the 12 credits (including my chemistry honors thesis research- open ended lab time). I also worked dorm food service- needed the money.
You mention “early this time”. My son was 16 when he started college due to a fall birthday with early K entry and compressed elementary grades (did grades 5-12 with cohort). Son became an honors math major (comprehensive majors, no minors at his U). He could have finished a regular math major in 3 years with minimal courses. He was already ahead by his age and would not have been well prepared for grad schools without the extra courses in math. Nor would his professors have gotten to know him as well.
College is an education, not just getting a degree in some field. Just getting the minimum needed courses in a major does not make a student well prepared for grad school in the field. Adding other courses to round out his experience at the same price is much better than wasting tuition on the minimum. Keeping his brain active is a necessity.
Our S added some fun courses. He took sailing, building a receiver (learned to solder and build electronics with his hands), geology, and other things he otherwise wouldn’t have taken if he graduated earlier.
Unless finances are an issue, I don’t think there is any reason to graduate early. 4 years is a very short time and there are so many interesting classes, far more than fit into 4 years.
Our S offered to graduate a year or term early. I suggested he take fun and/or grad courses. We are all glad he did, especially since he had merit award paying 50% tuition. 
I’d have him take fun courses, an extra minor, or start on grad courses. He could also go abroad for a semester. While he’d still earn credits, they might not fulfill his requirements for his major, thus fall into the ‘fun’ or ‘of general interest’ category. Or, instead of graduating early, maybe he could add a semester and end up with a BA and a masters in 4.5 years.
I was 20 when I graduated. I was too young to want to go to work like an adult.
Aside from grad school hopes, more courses usually means a better resume/preparation and more experience in time management for a workplace.
You are only “college age” once. Let him enjoy the full four year experience. There will be decades to work plus no time for the frills of indulging in college classes for fun later.
There are disadvantages to graduating a semester early. In some career fields, there are fewer jobs available for January graduates because some employers only recruit once a year. January graduates are out of sync for on-campus recruiting.
I would have him take some practical classes - public speaking, intro to accounting or finance, comp sci intro, etc. Stuff that will help him in life. How about getting a minor in something he likes with the extra classes? I agree that graduating in January can be harder to get jobs in some fields.
My son called and said he could finish a year earlier than planned but I told him to go ahead with what we had planned out and take more classes that would help him later that he wanted to take or take a semester abroad that last semester. Have some fun before he goes into pressure cooker grad school!
As to costs–it’s not just costing you the extra tuition but up to a year’s salary depending on your circumstance.
I graduated a year early–and taking the extra year would have cost not only the college tuition but also the salary I made during that year, making that extra year a VERY expensive option.
Timing the job market may be a consideration, since whether one enters the job market in boom times or down times can have long lasting effects on your career (in the worst case, entering in down times may end your career in the desired field before it starts).
Perhaps the student can select courses to that s/he can graduate early if desired, but if there are no suitable job offers for that graduation date (due to it being down times in the economy or industry), stay in school and hope the economy or industry recovers by the later graduation date. Graduating into unemployment may be permanently damaging to one’s future ability to get a job in the desired field.
A similar situation was where civil engineering graduates in 2009 tried harder to get into graduate school because the alternative then was unemployment.
Perhaps the extra time could be used to find a career-related internship, if those are available in your S’s college town. I’d investigate with career planning/placement on the interviewing cycles. Perhaps a December graduation puts him at an advantage, depending on his major. If he is interested in grad school, an extra year could help with GPA, recommendations, and broadening his range of knowledge that could be helpful with some employers.
My DH graduated a semester early because he ran out of money. (He had a scholarship and was paying the rest himself.) Fortunately, he already had a job offer in hand from his summer internship and they were happy to have him start in January. He was ready to on with life and get into a real job. Later on, he found he missed having the chance to take other classes and to improve his GPA. (His last semester was spent job hunting, to the detriment of his coursework. This required some explaining when he applied to grad school four years later.) However, he knew he had to land on his feet immediately post-graduation because there was no support from his family, logistically, financially, or otherwise. I had to loan him money from my next quarter’s tuition for him to have a $500 downpayment on a car to get him to work.
Unless he’s itching to get out, or has exciting plans lined up, or is sick of school… why not let him finish with his class, with a “fun” last semester, a nice long goodbye to this once-in-a-lifetime undergrad college experience.
That said, I graduated early. I was sick of school, honestly, and sick of being poor. I had a job lined up, and was ready for “the next chapter.” But there are times I wish I hadn’t left school that six months earlier. Because as much as I enjoyed making money – I sure missed the student lifestyle, and I experienced a pretty severe identity crisis. Plus, I discovered 9-to-5 for 50 weeks a year really sucked 
If affordable I’d have him stay the four years and take classes of interest. My D picked up a minor which she started junior year in a subject (that had nothing to do with her major or career goals) which she found interesting/fun/stimulating.
Also at my D’s college they allowed students to take fewer courses the last semester of senior year at a reduced cost and still stay on campus. So her last semester she took only two classes and spent a great deal of time doing research work with a professor which she got paid for and which led to an article being published in a journal. You may want to see if your S’s college has a similar option.
I was quite happy to,leave after 3 years. I had a job in my field, which helped me gain admittance to Grad school. Even tho,I already had grad school acceptances in hand, I really liked the year off to just work, come home and relax.
Thanks for your stories and comments. It seems he is ok with taking more classes. But he kept saying that his advisor was against doing more than he needs to. Is it normal for an advisor to advocate the bare minimum?
My words have less weights than his advisor’s.
My kids have had good and bad advisors. There are probably other advisors but our kids often pick and choose what they want to hear.
@herewelearn Our current college sr could have easily completed his UG degree in 3 yrs. He opted not to, and for him that was the right decision. He ended up taking the same approach to college as he did in high school (where we did not let him graduate early.) He used his time as an UG to take grad level courses, participate in more on-campus UG research, do an additional REU, and take some courses just bc he was interested in them.
He decided that strengthening his grad application by presenting the strongest UG application he could would be in his best long term interests vs. simply graduating a yr early. While we don’t know what would have happened if he had applied to grad school early bc he didn’t, his staying for the 4th yr did result in a strong application with excellent grad school offers.