While UF students are graduating on time, a new study found that college students around the country are not.
In public universities across the U.S., only 19 percent of students are completing their degrees within four years, according to the Complete College America report.
At UF, the majority of freshmen who started school in 2009 — 65.7 percent — graduated on time.
These numbers have increased over time. In 1991, 28.9 percent completed their degrees within four years, according the UF Office of Institutional Planning and Research.
The issue of not graduating on time occurs when students are unhappy with their grades, unable to register for classes or drop classes for medical reasons, said UF linguistics professor Stefanie Wulff.
Wulff said the more specialized the class is, the lower the drop rate is.
“When teaching an intro class, a lot of students end up dropping the class because they realize that the major is not really for them,” Wulff said. “However, in my second-language acquisition class, my drop rate is zero because at that point, the students already know what they want out of their degree.”
David Frick, a UF economics junior, said he plans to graduate on time.
“I had to drop MAC2312 for medical reasons, but it didn’t set me back when it came to finishing up my degree in four years,” Frick, 20, said.
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 12/5/2014]
