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Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009

Mercer makes Four-Year Pledge to students

Stephen Dominey is set to graduate in May from Mercer University with a double major in marketing and communications.

“I went in knowing I wanted to graduate in four years,” the Augusta native said. “My background is going to high school for four years. The mentality is basically the same. It’s the same basic method.”

With just 37 percent of college students nationally graduating in four years, Dominey is more the exception than the rule these days.

But Mercer is hoping to change that. The university announced Monday a new program to begin in the fall designed to encourage students to complete their degrees in four years.

The program, called the Mercer Four-Year Pledge, entails new Mercer students mapping out their academic careers when they start college and working closely with advisers to be sure to take the necessary classes each semester to fulfill the pledge, said Brian Dalton, Mercer’s vice president for enrollment management.

If the students work with their advisers and complete their coursework but for some reason won’t graduate in four years, Mercer will pick up the added costs for those students to complete their degree.

“It makes perfect sense for us,” Dalton said. “We have a highly talented, committed student body.”

Among the requirements for students to qualify for the pledge:

Ÿ Selecting the Four-Year Pledge program.

Ÿ Choosing a primary academic program within the required time frame and sticking with it.

Ÿ Seeking and following the guidance of their academic adviser.

ŸMaking satisfactory academic progress.

Ÿ Maintaining acceptable grades.

Ÿ Promptly registering each semester and maintaining full-time enrollment status throughout all four academic years.

Dalton said Mercer will try to minimize its financial risk by helping students the school may have improperly advised by finding alternate means of fulfilling their requirements, such as taking summer classes. Dalton didn’t have an estimate of the number of students who might qualify for the free tuition costs under the program’s rules.

The program was very successful at the College of St. Scholastica in Minnesota, said Dalton, who served as vice president for enrollment there for 10 years.

With the recession hurting families across the nation, Dalton said such a program is critical because many parents can’t afford to spend the extra money for a fifth year of college.

Mercer’s basic tuition is just under $30,000 per year, Dalton said, and when the cost of room, board, books and other necessities are added, that cost swells to nearly $40,000 per year.

“(There is) an anxiety among the public: How can a family afford the cost of higher education?” Dalton said. “We are demonstrating higher education can be responsive in the area of accountability.”

Mercer has a better rate than the national average for graduating its students in four years. For the students who graduated last May, about 44 percent did so in four years, Dalton said. The Mercer administration thinks the school can do better. The administration’s goal is to get that rate up to 65 to 70 percent.

“When Bill Underwood became president, he said he wanted that rate to improve dramatically,” Dalton said.

Underwood issued a statement Monday that supports the pledge as a way to help parents of students meet the financial burden of sending their children to Mercer.

“A college education represents one of the most precious opportunities in our society,” the statement said. “Mercer University is committed to helping reduce the cost of higher education, thus lightening the financial burdens on our students and their families.”

Though Dalton acknowledged there are many legitimate reasons why students might take longer than four years to graduate — studying abroad, working as an intern, working to pay their way through school, family obligations, changing majors and other reasons — Dalton said working with advisers could help students do those things and still meet the four-year goal.

Mercer students need about 120 credits to graduate for most of the school’s majors, Dalton said, but many can get credits for things such as internships.

Dalton said he thinks many prospective college students simply don’t appreciate the costs of attending a school and may drop a class or two without fully understanding the consequences. It’s up to the school to educate the students about the costs of higher education and the debts they may be facing when they graduate — debts that will increase the longer they are in school.

“We realize some students may choose to graduate in more than four years, but we want to make sure it’s an informed decision,” he said.

Dominey said the guidelines set in the Four-Year Pledge will go a long way in helping future students attain that goal.

“It’s a great opportunity for incoming students,” he said. “I wish they had it when I started.”

To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.