Participation numbers are still low in the four-year graduation program started in the fall of 1995.

In an effort by the State Board of Regents to increase the rate of students graduating from regent universities within four years, a contract program was created.

“We really have not had a lot of interest in [the four-year graduation program] from students.

The students don’t see that signing the contract is of any particular advantage to them,” said Associate Provost Edwin Lewis.

Last year about 150 Iowa State students signed up for the program, he said.

University-wide, about 250 students have signed the four-year graduation contract, Jane Jacobson, who oversees the program, said.

Jacobson said participation numbers have been increasing slightly since the program began, although the regents expressed concern over the low participation numbers.

At last Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting, President Martin Jischke said he thinks many students are taking longer to graduate because of the cost of education.

According to his calculations, Jischke said, for many students it is more practical to spend five years in school while working more hours at a job to lessen debt accumulation.

Jischke said the reason why many students take longer to graduate is rational. “There’s a limit to the debt they can carry,” he said.

He estimated that about three-fourths of ISU students work to pay for college.

According to information from the Office of Institutional Research, the average cumulative four-year graduation rate for freshmen who entered ISU between 1985 and 1992 was 21.4 percent.

After five years of school, the average graduation rate was 54.1 percent.

Trent Preszler, director of legislative affairs for the Government of the Student Body, said the four-year graduation program is “essentially a nice political coverup to please the parents of incoming students.”

Preszler said providing security to parents is not wrong, but he thinks the program has failed at ISU because of its “inability to connect with real students.”

He said students optimize their educations by participating in other opportunities which may delay graduation but make them better prepared to enter the work force after college.

Likewise, he said, it is unrealistic to expect non-traditional students who may have families to care for to graduate in four years.

Preszler said he doesn’t think the low four-year graduation rate reflects the quality of a school. He said taking longer to graduate is a national trend.

When he came to ISU, he said he intended to graduate in four years. However, he didn’t sign the contract. “It’s really a vague plan,” he said.

“After being at Iowa State, I realized I didn’t want to get out in four years,” Preszler said.

He plans on graduating in five years with a double degree and a year of study abroad experience instead.

When students here sign the contract, Lewis said, they are committing to carrying out a four-year graduation plan.

In turn, the university commits to making sure courses are available to students when they need them in order for them to progress through their academic programs.

For students who are in crowded or highly structured curriculums, that guarantee can be helpful, Jacobson said.

Lewis said ISU has done a pretty good job offering courses to students normally and does not give students who don’t sign the contract any disadvantage.

Many students do not graduate in four years for a variety of reasons, he said, including work, double majors, co-op programs, internships and other experiences.

“I think the goal to graduate in four years is worthwhile,” Lewis said, and the contract may help a student to focus on that goal.

However, he said, “I don’t think there’s anything magic about the contract.”

Jacobson said one important thing the contract accomplishes is making students consider that graduating in four years is possible.

She said the number of students who have been disenrolled has not been large.

For the most part, students involved tend to be very good students, she said.

“The people who are signing it tend to be fairly serious in what they are trying to do,” she said.

About 44 percent of the students signed up for the program have a 3.0 GPA or above.