caledinsider.org: The Budget Literacy Project

Not just a semester–a whole gosh darn year. It sounds harder than it really is.  All you need to do is plan, and you probably won’t have to take more than 16 units a semester.  I know a girl who graduated a year early and started law school right after she turned 20. Okay, now that sounds hard, but just getting out early–not so bad. In fact, it’s what I’m planning to do. Graduating a year early can help you save between $10,000 (in-state) and $33,000 (out-of-state.) Here are five steps to make it work:

Step One: Chart Your College Requirements

Look at your college’s requirements. List them on one page.  Next to each requirement, write whether or not you’ve satisfied it, and if you have satisfied it, how? I’m in the College of Letters and Science (L&S).  Here is my list. Be sure to note the fine print, such as how you can’t satisfy more than two breadth requirements with classes from the same department. The breadth requirement is pretty easy to satisfy since each breadth category can be satisfied by a lot of different classes.

I’ll have to look up whether other colleges at Berkeley have this, but I know L&S has a “senior residency requirement.” Basically, at 90 units, you are considered a senior. You must take at least 24 units in at least two semesters on the Berkeley campus (not through UC Berkeley Extension) after you make it to the 90 unit mark in order to satisfy the requirement. Here is L&S’s description of that requirement:

Senior Residence Requirement

After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your B.A. degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 4 passed units. Neither Intercampus Visitor, EAP, or UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units may be applied to this requirement.

You may use a Berkeley summer session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence Requirement, provided that you successfully complete 4 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the College.

Modified Senior Residence Requirement

Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) or the UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence Requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.

(Please note, L&S has other types of residence requirements as well. More information can be found here.)

The senior residence requirement would make it pretty hard for most people to graduate more than a year early, but it still may be possible. The question I’m left with after the description of the requirement is, “What if you meet and exceed 90 units in one semester? Do you still have to be on campus for two semesters, or can you finish 114 (90+24) units on campus, then take your last six units through UC Berkeley Extension? Say you start a summer session at 86 units and end it at 96 units, then take 18 units that fall. Do you still have to pay all those student fees to finish your degree the following spring, or can you take six units or so through UC Berkeley Extension and save thousands of dollars?” I think it’s unlikely a student can do what I’ve suggested in my question, but the description of the senior residence requirement says you can use a summer to satisfy part of it, leaving open the possibility of taking the spring semester off* and finishing your degree over the summer. I’ll have to double check with L&S about these things and get back to you.

Step Two: Stop Waiting to Stop Waiting–Be Proactive with Wait Lists

You’re probably thinking that graduating a year early can’t be as easy as I’m making it out to be, with so many students having to take an extra semester or year to graduate these days due to the ever-decreasing availability of classes. Everyone can count on getting wait listed for at least one class every semester. If you’re wait listed for a class you need to graduate, well … that sucks. One way to better your chances of getting off a wait list is simply e-mailing the professor to express your interest. (I know this advice might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people just sit back and wait to stop waiting.) Continue e-mailing him or her now and then to check on the state of the wait list in general and try to go to your professor’s office hours. I did that last semester with one of my English classes and I’m pretty sure the professor bumped me up the wait list as a result. He e-mailed me the second week of the semester to ask if I was still attending lecture and informed me that if I came to the next class, he would give me a spot. The class was processed manually, which means the first people to get off the wait list were senior English majors and undeclared freshman got in last or not at all. I was a sophomore English major.

Step Three: Declare Your Major A.S.A.P.

Declaring your major as soon as possible will make it much easier to graduate a year early by allowing you to start completing your major sooner and giving you an advantage on manually processed wait lists. I declared myself an English major at the end of my freshman year. Doing so has helped me get into English courses by placing me higher on manually processed wait lists than people with the same class standing as me or lower. (Decals can also help you climb the wait list ladder by beefing up your unit count.)

I know a lot of people who wait forever to declare their major because, they say, they don’t know what they want to do with their lives. Your major probably isn’t what you’re going to do with your life. If you’re delaying declaring because you don’t want to be bound to something you end up not being terribly passionate about, then pick a major you’re interested in that requires a small number of classes in that department to graduate. The fewer classes you have to take for your major, the more room you’ll have to explore other departments. I’ve regretted being an English major at times because it requires that I take 12 English courses, as opposed to the normal eight to 10 required by most other majors, restricting my ability to explore topics other than literature.

Step Four: Chart Your Major Requirements and Make a Final Plan

Once you’ve declared a major, make a list of your major’s requirements similar to the list you made for your college’s requirements. Here is my list. Naturally, some of the classes you take for your major will satisfy requirements for your college. After you’ve made your two lists, plan out your college career. List what classes you’re taking and what requirements they satisfy. Keep track of units semester by semester. Be sure to consider taking summer classes. Summer sessions can save you a lot of money, especially if you’re an out-of-state student like me; the classes cost the same amount for all UC Berkeley undergraduates, regardless of where you’re from. (Graduate students and visiting students pay more.) Also, there are no additional fees you have to pay like there are in the fall and spring. Here is my graduation plan, semester by semester.

Step Five: Get Your Advisor’s Blessing

Now, make appointments to see both your major advisor and your academic advisor at your college.  Ask them to double check that your plan satisfies your graduation requirements. It’s likely that your academic advisor won’t know more than what’s already online, but check in with him or her anyway in case you missed something and for your peace of mind.

Some Pros and Cons

Keep in mind, graduating a year early means you’ll have less time to take the classes you want or get involved with campus activities. You probably won’t get a chance to study abroad, either, unless you do it over a summer. I’ve found, however, that knowing I’m only going to be on campus 75% as long as most people makes me value the resources at Berkeley all the more. I carefully plan each semester, only taking classes I really want to take. As for decreased travel opportunity, with the amount of money I’ll save by not taking that fourth year, there’s no reason I can’t find a travel opportunity less expensive than most study abroad programs after I graduate. I’ll also have a bachelor’s degree that much sooner and can look for employment opportunities abroad.

*Note: If you take time off from school before completing your degree, it impacts the length of your student loan grace period after you graduate. If you spend more than six months out of school or taking less than half the normal course load, you will use up your grace period. After six months, you will have to start paying your loans back, unless you go back to school and apply for an in-school deferment. Then, once you’ve graduated, you will have to start paying your loans back immediately, unless you apply for a determent or forbearance or if you go back to school and get another in-school deferment.