<p>To answer the OP, yes. We planned for 9 semesters per kid. </p>
<p>For S it’s working out to be 8 semesters, 2 summer courses, and 1 summer internship for credit (+ expenses). </p>
<p>D’s a freshman and it’s too early for her to tell if she’ll need more than 8. Her school doesn’t offer summer credit. So, I doubt she’ll be on an extended plan.</p>
<p>“Kids will do what they can get away with to stay on the parent’s dime… setting parameters and expectations for them is a good thing.”</p>
<p>Don’t think I agree with that statement.</p>
<p>You don’t agree that expectations should be set to (1) pick a major early enough so they can stay on track for graduation for four years and (2) not waste their parent’s (and their own, to some extent) hard earned money? Well… I would call it coddling (or stupidity) for a parent to NOT have that conversation with their kids before they even select a college. We have had discussions with both of our kids on WHY they are going to college. There are several reasons (pretty much all valid) on both sides, but if I am paying the bill I certainly want to make sure we have this discussion so they are really clear on what my expectations are. I don’t ask for all "A"s, or any specific major. I do expect them to be able to SOMEHOW support themselves at the end of a four year expensive education. We don’t just have $200,000 laying around, it is a stretch to pay for a good college. Not going to let them take it for granted. And to their credit, they don’t, but they are kids… it does help (just like it does with everyone in life) to let them know what is expected.</p>
<p>Regarding the part about staying on the parent’s dime… the world is a pretty scary place, and lots of kids would way rather stay in college an extra year (or have parents pay their way to grad school) than go out into the world of paying their own bills, buying insurance, car payments, etc. I knew a LOT of these kids at U of Michigan when I went there.</p>
<p>Should parents plan for the possibility of more than 8 semesters’ of college costs?</p>
<p>The answer is yes. The overall four-year and six-year graduation rates are respectively 38% and 58%, so that means at least 20% go on for more than 4 years, and there is certainly some percentage going on for more than 6 years.</p>
<p>[The</a> Condition of Education](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/tables/table-pgr-2.asp]The”>http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/tables/table-pgr-2.asp)</p>
<p>ucbalumnus–there lies your problem-you claim hardly any kids in high school take calculus and then claim they all take “remedial” math in college. If hardly any kids are taking high school calculus, how can that level in college be remedial??</p>
<p>bluebayou–CA=most in the US???</p>
<p>Bluebayou, I’m with you. We assumed college will take 4 years but also know it may take longer. we’ll pay for college. period.</p>
<p>Flyaround: My kids are very aware of our finance situations and truly are appreciative, good kids. They would not behave that way.</p>
<p>My S will need at least one extra semester, perhaps two. I agree with an above poster who said the 4 yr plan suggested by the college was unreasonable. We were told that for every hour in class, you need 2 hours to study. For what they suggested, there weren’t enough hours in the day ! He still takes a full load.</p>
<p>Wow, my D1 did not have trouble at all taking a full load and studying for at least 2 hours for every hour spent in class. But she studied a lot… often went to the library on Friday night for a couple of hours before going out. Definitely studied about a full day every weekend as well. And in the library every night that she did not have a club meeting, class, study group, etc. Also worked part time during college. I think it can be done… maybe the biggest “remedial need” for many students is in time management!</p>
<p>The horticulture classes i took in community college required well over two hours for every hour in class. More like four. Studio/ performance based classes often require a great deal of outside work as well.</p>
<p>If the student is receiving school based aid however, that may be strictly limited to four years, no exceptions.</p>
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<p>In college, calculus is not remedial. Precalculus is remedial.</p>
<p>bluebayou (post #18), you don’t understand mental illness well if you think a student could have averted the illness by going to a different college. It’s an ILLNESS!</p>
<p>I heard that there are many ways to go to graduate school for free (or very cheap), or even a have a stipend. If so, then it wouldn’t be too bad.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus–not really–many states only require 2-3 years of high school math, CA requires 2. The UC system requires 3 years for admissions so if a student does Algebra in 9th grade, geometry in 10th and Algebra II in 11th they have met both the high school and college requirements for graduation/admissions. Pre-calc would be the next step in the math progression freshman year in college- it is NOT remedial. Even the UC system does NOT require ANY calculus or pre-calc classes.</p>
<p>For me, the takeaway from this thread, is that research on how many graduate in 4 years should be a serious data point in deciding on what college to attend, especially if there are financial constraints. The family can just not assume on a 4 year timeline and it pays to dig deep and differentiate by major, and high school course work and the natural abilities of the student. Now with federal loan programs maxing at 12 semesters, this is even more important. Best to go in to this with eyes wide open and realistic expectations.</p>
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<p>Precalculus is remedial for students who need to take calculus for their majors (having to take precalculus can delay graduation for such students). It is true that many students who have insufficient high school math preparation can avoid remedial math courses by choosing majors which do not require calculus.</p>
<p>In any case, even if colleges’ minimum high school math requirements are 3 years, it is normally expected that college-bound students take 4 years of math in high school (unless they complete the top level of math in their high school earlier). Note also the requirement for 4 years of high school English – and even with that, the percentage of freshmen needing remediation in English is greater than for math (perhaps because some of those who would need remediation for math are in majors not needing calculus or other college level math).</p>
<p>flyaround–make sure you are asking that question in the right way too–how many freshman that started right after high school graduate in 4 years. It isn’t as big of a difference at a smaller LAC, for example, but a huge difference at a state flagship were a lot of people purposely take 6 years to finish college.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus–
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<p>…In California…</p>
<p>We sat our dd down and told her what “she” had in her college fund. It is enough for her to go to the state flagship 4 years and live on campus 2 years without scholarships. It is now her responsibility to use the money wisely and choose her school based on the financial packages and scholarships that come in. That is not saying that we are not going to advise her but she is a bright young lady that has asked us a lot of questions and we are confident she will make a wise decision. She, too, will most likely go to grad school so that is a factor too. </p>
<p>I do not agree that all kids would “do anything to stay on their parents dime”. My dd always starts at the clearance rack when shopping - even when I am paying!</p>
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<p>Looks like Massachusetts has much lower rates of remedial course enrollment – but under a definition of “remedial” courses that matches SteveMA’s definition, where math courses like “Precalculus, Algebra, Functions, and Graphs” and “Analytic Geometry and Trigonometry” are not “remedial”, even though they cover material that non-advanced college-prep students in high school should have covered in high school math courses.</p>
<p>We always told our girls we planned on 4 years for each D. D1 finished in 4 years at a private LAC. D2 will graduate in 4 years at private LAC this spring with an accounting degree but needs to pick up extra credits to sit for her CPA exam/certification. We may contribute a small portion to that grad program if her scholarship isn’t as large as she expects it to be but we rationalize paying for it due to her undergrad merit aid and having her freshman year paid for through athletic scholarship. We still haven’t had to use all the money saved for her 4 years.</p>
<p>We talked a lot with both kids about the huge cost of college and the importance of graduating with a degree the market needs, in as little time as possible. One problem with refusing to pay after 4 years is it might deter some students from more rigorous fields with better job prospects: the 4 year plans Ive seen for nursing and engineering work for some extremely bright kids but really arent realistic for many others these are kids who will likely do well in their fields but who just dont function so well with 18 credits per term. </p>
<p>It would be counterproductive to have the moderately struggling engineering student switch to an easier but less in demand field just to finish in 4 years. DH and I were focused on the long term goal: the kids being able to support themselves with their 4 year degrees in hand (grad school is on them); paying for a summer course (especially while living at home) seemed like a wise investment if it helped them remain in a rigorous major with good prospects.</p>