It’s a bit too early to accurately measure the effectiveness of the University of Alabama’s graduation campaign Finish in Four, but the university is hopeful that the campaign will assist students in graduating on time.
The Chronicle of Higher Education sponsors a website called College Completion, and according to them, the university currently has a 37.9 percent four-year graduation rate, compared to a 31.3 percent average elsewhere across the nation in four-year public universities. The numbers are promising thus far, and the university only hopes to keep this number increasing.
The campaign was started in 2011, and was created to encourage and facilitate four-year graduation. It utilizes a software called DegreeWorks that assists students in planning their semester course loads and monitors their credit hours. It also provides tools that help students understand course requirements, and provides assistance in course selection.
“If students fully utilized the tools available in DegreeWorks, the time students spend with academic advisors could be used for career planning rather than course scheduling,” said Judy Bonner, who serves as Executive Vice President and Provost of the University.
According to the director of the Office of Nursing Student Services Rebekah Welch, the software doesn’t replace, but compliments the advising process. With less time allocated to assist students with course planning, Welch has more time to focus on career advising.
“DegreeWorks is a great software and enhances the advising process, but it doesn’t replace advising… DegreeWorks had made it easier to help students with life-type advising,” she said.
The ultimate goal of the Finish in Four campaign is to help UA’s students stay on track, and so far the program is promising. The hope is that students are able to devote more attention to their career paths and join the workforce sooner than later, and the university is excited to see the progress that can be made in this endeavor.