India Dinges started her college experience in fall of 2017. Today, five years later, she’s a first-year student in an unconventional degree program working toward an associate degree with a concentration in business.

“I’ve definitely had an untraditional college experience,” said Dinges.

She bounced from college to college for a few years, occasionally taking gap years and breaks between enrollments. As a student seeking specific mental health accommodations for anxiety and depression, navigating college life was nearly impossible without adequate support.

One of the colleges she attended, Dinges said, didn’t take her seriously when she approached them to discuss accommodations. They instead asked her to seek out paperwork and testing beyond what she already had. This posed both an inconvenience and a financial burden. “I was extremely overwhelmed and unsupported,” said Dinges.

This experience exemplified the many roadblocks Dinges encountered during her traditional college enrollments.

After a series of withdrawals from a handful of academic institutions for both medical and family reasons, Dinges decided to try something different.

She is now enrolled in Degree Forward, an accelerated degree program offered through Southern New Hampshire University. In lieu of exam scores, mastery is evaluated through projects that students complete over the course of the academic term. Students are also assigned an academic coach to support them throughout the process.

Dinges said that now, in this program, she feels as if she’s offered the level of support she needs to succeed — something that simply wasn’t available to her during her previous enrollments. She plans to graduate in 2024, seven years after her high school graduation, and hopes to use her degree to support her entrepreneurial ventures.

For others, the optimal route is to take less than the standard four years.

Jaron Magstadt is a genetics major in his second year at the University of Minnesota as a degree seeking student. He graduated high school in the class of 2020 and plans to meet his degree requirements by spring of 2023.

His motivation is largely financial.

Magstadt currently works three part-time jobs to pay for college. He also completed two years of PSEO at the University before his admission as an undergraduate, something that he says saved him thousands of dollars. His goal? Beyond simply getting his bachelor’s, Magstadt says he wants to do so debt-free.

Magstadt plans to attend grad school after he gets his degree, something he knows he can’t afford without loans. For now, he said, he’s trying to hold off on borrowing for as long as possible by graduating as quickly as he can.

We are often told that there is a right and wrong way to accomplish things. This seems doubly true in the realm of academics, where student value often feels as if it hinges upon a series of numbers: percentage grades, grade point averages and years in school, to name a few.

The truth is, of course, more complex than that. Students come from a variety of different backgrounds, and all move at different paces. Four years, then, could be thought of as less of a rule and more of a guideline: “Sure, you could do it this way — many have — but there are also other options.”

Why rush to get things done in four years when you’re not quite sure if traditional college is the route you want to take? Conversely, why take four years when you’re dead-set on being done in three?

Magstadt said he was happy with the academic route he chose to take.

“I’m so grateful for PSEO,” he said. It was a decision that made his academic path possible, allowing him to earn over 60 college credits as a high schooler, all for free.

Dinges expressed similar feelings. She said that while she used to wish that she had taken a more traditional approach to college, she doesn’t anymore. “I’m glad I took the time to figure out what route was best for me,” she said.