# How old were you when you got a 4-year university or college degree? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390 "2019-05-23T03:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/41 "2019-05-23T21:49:53Z")
25 After being burnt out on school, I worked for four years before deciding to go to college. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/42 "2019-05-23T22:09:23Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Date earned–a good and possibly telling detail. I wonder if people today are more or less likely to go to college right after high school and then knock out a(n American) bachelor’s in 4 years. > > 21, in 1989 22, in 1984. Also, has the number of hours required changed? When I was in college, it was assumed to be ~12-15 hours a semester, and you would graduate in 4 years. There was some rumblings that accounting degrees were going to start taking 6 years to finish by the time I graduated, but everyone I knew was on a 4 year plan. Mind you, nearly everyone I knew was able to go to college with doing no more than a part time minimum wage job, because a) it was one of the cheaper public schools in Texas even at the time, and b) there wasn’t this expectation at the time of hocking your soul to go to college ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/43 "2019-05-23T22:14:44Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Studies show that most people take six years to earn their bachelor’s degree, and only 19% of people graduate in 4 years. How about you? Cite? I found [this article](https://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/11/ron-johnson/average-college-degree-takes-six-years-us-sen-ron-/) dissecting the claims of a politician who made a statement kind of like that. > [@the article](#): > > the average time to get their bachelor’s degree was six years and four months > … > That number, of course, is stretched by students who don’t take just four or six years, but much longer to finish their degree. > … > 44 percent of the students who got their degrees in 2007-2008 did so within four years. > > That compares to 23 percent who needed five or six years (and 33 percent who took more than six years). Yes, the average length of time to earn a bachelor’s is ~6 years, but that doesn’t mean that _most people_ take six years. There’s a long-tail effect going on here. My dad, for example, took about 20 years to get his degree because his original college experience was interrupted by Vietnam, then some other stuff, then having a kid (we’re a lot of work!), etc. His experience alone balances out nine other people who got their degrees in 4 years to result in an average of 6 years. You can see the same results in the poll. 80+% of us got our degrees in 4-5 years (making some fairly reasonable assumptions like most of us started college around 17 or 18 years old, since the question posed in the poll is different), but the average is going to be higher than that. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/44 "2019-05-23T23:50:12Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > 22, in 1984. Also, has the number of hours required changed? When I was in college, it was assumed to be ~12-15 hours a semester, and you would graduate in 4 years. I don’t think the number of hours have changed - my daughter needed the same 120 credits that I needed in 1986. But there’s a big difference between 12 and 15- 12 credits x 8 semesters is 96 credits, not enough to graduate without summer school and/or extra semesters. 15x8 is 120. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/45 "2019-05-24T00:11:15Z")
I was 22. Exactly. Graduation day was on my birthday. It was also the very same day that Mount St. Helens blew up. I figured that was in my honor. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/46 "2019-05-24T02:08:18Z")
I was 23. I was already 18 when I graduated from high school (January bday). It took me 5 years to get my 4-year degree, due to a combination of working full time the last couple of years and not being able to get the classes I needed. Graduated high school in 1987, and graduated college in 1992. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/47 "2019-05-24T02:50:40Z")
Either 23 or 27 depending on how you call it. I finished my all of my classwork at 23, but then, due to various reasons (partially including procrastination) I didn’t finish my senior project until I was 27. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/48 "2019-05-24T03:27:04Z")
I see two people have posted that they were 34 years old. Yet 16 people in the poll voted “over 30”. Care to post? I started Junior College at 16 after getting my GED my Junior year of HS. I earned my BS at 55. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/49 "2019-05-24T03:54:45Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I always get annoyed by these articles- generally speaking, 12 credits per semester is considered full time for the purposes of tuition, financial aid etc. But a bachelor’s degree is typically 120 credits and will take 5 years (10 semesters) at 12 credits per semester. At at least one place I’m familiar with, which I think is typical, a full-time student takes somewhere from 12 to 18 credits per semester—less than 12, and you’re considered part-time; and you can’t take more than 18 without special permission (and possibly the help of a time turner, like Hermione used). > [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Yes, the average length of time to earn a bachelor’s is ~6 years, but that doesn’t mean that _most people_ take six years. Thank you. I too wondered about the “studies” the OP referred to. The OP implied that 6 years is the mode, but I find it more believable that 6 years is the mean. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/50 "2019-05-24T04:45:59Z")
I was a slightly older student. Got my bachelor’s degree at age 28 but just five or six weeks before I turned 29. It took me five years, but my first year was part-time. For what it’s worth, I was 35 when I got my master’s, and that took me 2-1/2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/51 "2019-05-24T04:50:25Z")
I was 24. I took a semester off because I injured an eye pretty badly while at work. Also, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after graduation and kinda dragged my feet through the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/52 "2019-05-24T05:09:56Z")
I’ve got lots of company with me in the 30 and over group! I was exactly 30, after most of my military service had passed. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/53 "2019-05-24T06:45:38Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I agree, this “4-year” degree expectation is nonsense. > > Got mine in 3. > > Was practically a dual degree and also earned 9 hours towards my Masters. So getting that was an easy year. So you got 120+ hours completed in 6 semesters? That’d be 20 hours per semester, unless you didn’t have to work summers and took courses then. I must be missing something: why would the four year degree expectation be “nonsense”? Many people have to work both during the academic year and summers in order to afford school, so class overloads and/or summer school simply aren’t doable. I got my BA at 20 with a double minor. Skipped my last year of high school and started college at 16. I was blessed with parents who were able to save for our college tuition. We had to work to pay our share of living expenses. I’m more impressed by people who graduated later because they had to earn the money and go under tougher circumstances than I did. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/54 "2019-05-24T10:49:25Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > At at least one place I’m familiar with, which I think is typical, a full-time student takes somewhere from 12 to 18 credits per semester—less than 12, and you’re considered part-time; and you can’t take more than 18 without special permission (and possibly the help of a time turner, like Hermione used). I think that is typical - I was just pointing out that although 12 credits is generally considered full-time, you can’t graduate in 4 years taking 12 credits. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/55 "2019-05-24T11:15:00Z")
I never really had my head wrapped around this whole “credit hours” thing. For my school, one course was one credit. And I think we needed 32 to graduate. 20 had to be outside my major. Labs weren’t considered separate courses. I finished in four, as did some 90% of us. So I’m assuming most of us were 22. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/56 "2019-05-24T13:28:36Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > So you got 120+ hours completed in 6 semesters? That’d be 20 hours per semester, unless you didn’t have to work summers and took courses then. I must be missing something: why would the four year degree expectation be “nonsense”? Many people have to work both during the academic year and summers in order to afford school, so class overloads and/or summer school simply aren’t doable. 1. Quarters, not semesters. 2. Yeah, some summer classes but not a lot. 3. 19 hours per quarter wasn’t a problem. I didn’t do 20 simply because they started to charge more at that point. Still had a lot of time on my hands. and … 1. Let me get this straight: I do _not_ think that 4 years should be considered a norm and you are coming after me because I’m not allowing for situations where people can’t do it in 4 years. What the what??? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/57 "2019-05-24T13:45:15Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > But a bachelor’s degree is typically 120 credits and will take 5 years (10 semesters) at 12 credits per semester. And that’s for a relatively undemanding degree in terms of credit hours. When I was in school, 120 hours was for something like a BA in Political Science, while the engineering/science degrees were more like 135. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/58 "2019-05-24T13:54:20Z")
I’ve heard that even if one wants to take a normal or heavy course load, it can be difficult at some schools to actually register for all the classes one needs due to low availability, schedule conflicts, etc., thus delaying graduation. I haven’t seen any data though. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/59 "2019-05-24T13:58:25Z")
So if a normal class is 3 “hours”, and a lab is 1, I guess my degree adds up to only 106. Maybe a touch more depending on how you count the research thesis. But still light compared to what I’m seeing people write about other schools. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/60 "2019-05-24T14:03:10Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I’ve heard that even if one wants to take a normal or heavy course load, it can be difficult at some schools to actually register for all the classes one needs due to low availability, schedule conflicts, etc., thus delaying graduation. I haven’t seen any data though. This was certainly the case at Wisconsin, at least when I was there. One could plan out several different possible schedules for your semester, prior to registration week, but when registration actually began, it was not uncommon at all to get shut out of classes you needed, or wind up with a schedule that was short on credits, simply because you couldn’t get into the right classes. (Now, was there / is there data to show how many students took longer to graduate, specifically because of this? I have no idea.) Also, in answer to your other question: > [@Ruken](#): > > I never really had my head wrapped around this whole “credit hours” thing. For my school, one course was one credit. And I think we needed 32 to graduate. 20 had to be outside my major. At my school, the number of credits a class counted for roughly mapped to how many hours during a week you spent in that class. So, a three-credit class likely met for one hour, three times per week. Most classes were either three or four credits, but I took classes that ranged from one credit up to five (my one chemistry class, which had 3 one-hour lecture sessions per week, plus one two-hour lab). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390.md?page=4)