UNIVERSITY
Many students finding four years not enough
By Stacy Ivie
Emerald Associate Editor
The pattern used to lie standard. Col
lege-bound students would put in their
four years and then join the work fort e
However, attaining a bachelors degree
in four years has become much less
common than it used be
Out of the University’s freshman class
of 1984-85. somewhere between Hi and
19 percent of students completed under
graduate work in I'lHH. according to the
University registrar office.
Those are average figures with rates
varying only a percent or two during the
last Hi years, said Anne leavitt. assis
tant to the vice provost in student af
fairs.
"There are a lot of factors that affect
students getting through in four years,”
she said
These far tors include finances, lack of
adequate advising, outside interests
such as family and work, and students
vai dialing between majors
Nationally, fewer students are gradu
ating within a four year period, accord
ing to I'hr American College Student
a study i ondui ted by the (Inoper
ative Institutional Research Program
based at the Higher education Researr li
Institute at I'(II.A
"I ewer than two freshmen in five
(35.1 percent) earn a bachelor's degree
in f<nir years. compared to nearly half
(■Mi.7 percent) of the lltt>i> freshmen."
the study showed, using a research pro
ject done in 1«J71 by Alexander Astin.
CRP director, for comparison.
The study also found that women are
more likely than men to complete an
undergraduate program within four
years
CIKI’ includes information on about
1.300 institutions and more than H mil
lion students
The University is following that
trend, taravilt said
"A lot of students are choosing five
years instead of the traditional four."
she said
University President Myles Brand
said taking five years to finish makes
sense.
"It gives students more exploration in
various courses, and a lot of students
have to work to make ends meet." he
said.
AImjuI 01 percent of incoming fresh
men at the University are making it
through the first three terms of college,
and between 75 and ho percent will re
turn for a se< ond year according to the
registrar's offir e
The number of graduates iu< reases
greatly during the five years and sis
year point at the University, with about
I'i percent getting .1 degree in five years
and AA percent taking six years to fin
is fi. Leavitt said.
"Our sixth year graduation rate is not
as good as it should be." brand said "It
is below national figures If they don't
graduate in six years, it's likely they
won't graduate at all "
So how many students actually com
plete a degree?
"More than half," Leavitt said.
"That’s pretty good for a public univer
sity of this size "
However, many students are finding
that even after they gel their degree, the
battle is not yet over.
"It's a job to find a job." said tarry
Smith, director of the University's Ca
reer Planning and Placement Service.
"It is partii ularly hard to find one that
is interesting and potentially a career ”
According to a survey done in spring
of 1‘IHH by Career Planning and Place
ment. 82 pen ent of the graduating 1 lass
found employment before graduation
Most graduates (t>:t percent) found
employment in Oregon, while 17 per
cent went to California and (1 percent to
Washington
The Midwest pul c hums on a percent
and foreign countries and other western
steles employed -4 percent oac h of I'ni
versils graduates
All in all. 7 percent of the polled
graduates wore still searching for em
ployment at the time of graduation.
"That's just alxiut average, because
within that 7 percent are students who
are traveling or didn’t intend to work af
ter graduation.” Smith said.
Of the 82 percent that had found
work, a mere 53 percent held a full-time
career-related position.
"It is not unusual for a large number
of students to not be working in their
field." Smith said. "An awful lot of our
students don't have a clear idea of what
they want to do when they graduate so
they enter into positions to provide
them with a steady income so they can
lx- independent."
The University is producing more
graduates in business administra
tion finance, economics, and psycholo
gy than any other majors. However, ar
chitecture, journalism and political sci
ence are running close behind.
In the career planning study, the aver
age income for a 1088 graduate ran jus!
about $18,000 a year
"Wages are increasing from 5 percent
to 7 percent a year." he said "I expect
that they will go up 5 percent this
year."
Thirteen percent of the 1088 gradu
ates went directly into jobs that provid
ed .i salary of $25,000 annually or more,
at i ording to the study
SETA gets sizable budget increase for 1991-92
By Catherine Hawley
Emeiaid Associate Editor
Students for tin' Ellin .rl
Treatment of Animals re< eived
.1 latest in its funding from stu
(font int 1 (it-iita 1 fees from its
current level of SJ.tli per year to
$80:.' for the 1991 ‘12 school
year
SETA and three other student
groups were fumled Friday at
the Incidental Fee Committee s
first Imifget hearings session of
tlie school year
The im reuse in funding will
permit SETA to establish its
own telephone line next year
and del rease its dependent e on
tlie Survival Center, said SETA
dirts tor Monii a Semeria
SETA, which has been on
campus since 1*187. now uses
the phone line in the Survival
Center, with It is also providing
$7)0 per month from its budget
to provide a work study sli
pend to Semeria
"We would like to he less de
pendent on the Survival Center
and use less of their re
Group
Literary Society
ACT
SETA
CIE
IggfcSl
$4,648
$2,593
$239
$941
1991-92
$4,570
$2,656
$802
$685
sources." Semeria told commit
tee memliers Fridav
SKTA. in its first year .is an
11'(! fumil'll group. submitted a
budget proposal to ASUO li
name c oordinators several
weeks ago that included a $-tHt>
request for .1 director's stipend
and a $1,200 request for speak
ers tees
Finance coordinators Sam
N'ehni and Fd Henderson, w bo
worked with Semeria during
SKTA s budgeting plot ess. dul
not 'in lude the stipend in their
recommendation to the li t' and
reduced the speakers line item
to $100
"Fm happs w ith most of the
outcome." Semeria saiti Sun
day "I wish we could have got
the stipend, hut I understand
their reasonings why.”
The Literary' Society received
tile largest allocation of the ses
sion $-t.!i7ll. slightly less
than the S-t.ti-IH it received for
this vear A i tit was made in
the group's office supplies
budget, and $4H mistakenly al
located this year for a phone
yvas eliminated from the
10*11 Ml! budget
The Literary Society holds
regular readings of graduate
and undergraduate students'
writings and publishes Timber
line, an annual magazine fea
turing poetry , fiction and art
work by University students
Amazon Community Ten
ants. an organization for resi
dents of the family housing
area. y\as allocated $2.ti5f> for
ii«*vt year The $(>•( increase
will be combined with money
cut from other areas to pav a
stipend for ii roseari li assistant
to work with the I’niversily
housing department on its
plans to renovate Amazon fam
ily Housing. Director Hindu
Pearsall said
Campus Information fx
chaugc which provides stu
dents with access to national
and international computer in
format ion-sharing networks,
took a 17 percent decrease in
its I mi I li^ budget The group
will receive StjHS in ini idental
lees next year
1'he tut was mutually agreed
upon b\ Cll, Director Chris lie
lav and the A SI ’() Imam e coor
dinators making the reduc lion
legal under the (! I ark Docu
ment
The dot ument. which out
lines guidelines for lit! proce
dures. stipulates that budget re
ductions for traditionally fund
ed programs cannot exceed 25
percent unless the program th
rector requests such a reduc
tion
\ehm saitl records show CIIK
has not been spending 25 to .40
pert ent of ds allocated budget
('IK had a -44 percent reduction
in its current budget from its
ttmfl-'IO budget
Delay said previous (UK di
rectors had requested larger
budget amounts The amount
allocated in the last two sears
"keeps us running." he said.
In other business, the com
mittee unanimousK voted to
grant the Student Senate a $1 15
special allocation to pay for
senators' stipends. The HiOO-dl
budget submitted by last vear's
senate chair was incorrect, and
not enough money was request
ed to pay stipends. Senate Vii e
President 1-aura Ueheone said
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