Given the costs of tuition and living these days, who can blame students at the state’s public universities for increasingly taking more than four years to complete their degrees? Well, the national college-ranking publications can and do blame the institutions, if not the students themselves. That’s only one reason why colleges and the Kansas Board of Regents are right to be concerned about the trend, which also can mean more student loan debt. The regents and universities are trying to help by streamlining graduation requirements and by other means, but they should avoid punitive measures. And the four-year model isn’t for everybody. Yes, a mere 15 percent of Wichita State University students graduate in four years, way off the national average of 36 percent. But it’s part of WSU’s mission as a diverse urban university to be a place where nontraditional students can pursue degrees at their own pace.
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