The timeline for finishing college has slipped from 4 to 6 years. Will it ever go back?

Millions of freshmen are settling into college this fall, and 9 out of 10 of those pursuing bachelor’s degrees are confident they’ll finish in four years or less.

If history holds true, however, fewer than half of them actually will.

Colleges have gradually moved the finish line to give themselves credit for success if students graduate in six years — or even eight years, which is the measure used by the government’s newest consumer website, College Scorecard.

That’s like judging the success of an airline’s on-time performance by including the percentage of its flights that take up to twice as long as scheduled to reach their destinations.

Researchers, policymakers and journalists have largely unquestioningly used the six-year measure. But now it is attracting new scrutiny as graduation rates stagnate, the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to make them even worse and the Biden administration proposes spending $62 billion to improve completion rates at institutions with large proportions of low-income students.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/college-students-dont-graduate-4-years-government-counts-6-years-succe-rcna2776