Ashland University has spent about $3,000 of university money funding a marketing idea that never took off. Billboards, flyers, ad stands, emails and advertisements on the AU website were used to promote the Four-Year-Graduation- Guarantee promising students that they would graduate in four years on the plan and if not, the university will cover up to an additional year of tuition for the extra time it takes to finish.

Freshmen enrolling in the fall 2013 cohort became eligible for this program and admissions representatives got to work pitching the idea to eligible students in eligible majors. 

But according to Kathleen Hall, a registrar representative, no students are currently participating in the guarantee. 

Apart from the parents of the occasional student, nobody had shown more than curiosity toward the guarantee.

According to the Ashland University website, Dr. Frank Pettigrew explained why he believed the idea would take off: encourage students to attend AU and comfort current students.

“Most students don’t anticipate staying in college for more than four years, but in reality there are a number of circumstances that can delay graduation,” he said.

“This plan provides the security for students and a commitment from the university that they will complete their degree in four years of study or go tuition free. It serves as the students’ security plan.” 

But students weren’t exactly enthused by the idea. After all, there is a long list of conditions and circumstances the students would have to meet to qualify for the Four-Year-Graduation-Guarantee. This list is 16 items long including the following:

The five-year programs and some licensure programs are excluded from the Four-Year Degree Guarantee

The Four-Year Degree Guarantee may not be applicable if a student elects certain second or third majors requiring coursework beyond what can be reasonably accommodated within a four-year period

 Students cannot elect to defer graduation to allow athletic participation in a fifth academic year.

Make timely annual application for necessary financial assistance to avoid registration problems 

Permit the university to notify your parent/guardian of your grades and academic progress by signing a

FERPA waiver to the same. 

Avoid academic or judicial suspension or action that delays graduation. Etc.

In addition to not fulfilling all of these requirements many students find the plan unnecessary. They want to be able to have supremacy over their schedules rather than letting the institution regulate everything and take away their control.

Admissions officers are required to pitch the guarantee to all eligible incoming students; however, many have fallen short of encouraging an idea that has been so unsuccessful thus far.

Instead of pushing the idea on students they leave it mostly to other forms of media.

“Students are notified about the guarantee on AU Print publications, office displays and a video screenshot, our website and social media outlets,” said W.C. Vance, Director of Admissions at AU.

Tarin Cook, a criminal justice major, believes she can easily graduate in four years without implementing the Four-Year Guarantee.

“I’ll be fine because I have post-secondary courses I took in high school but even without those credits I would only have to take a couple of 18 credit hour semesters to graduate in four years,” she said.

“My major, including core classes, is a total of 120 credit hours and people with majors that are like 134 credit hours might have a reason to sign up for the guarantee.”

Cook also found faults in the guarantee.

“Most of the things that would prevent me from graduating on time are listed as restrictions for the guarantee so what’s the point?”

Although AU denies that anyone is on the Four-Year Guarantee, Brooke Morgan, a freshman at AU, claims that she is currently signed up. She decided she wanted to give it a shot after learning about it at her drive-in. 

“It sounded nice hearing that if the school messes up my schedule that they would pay for it, like literally,” she said.

The guarantee appealed to Morgan because they understand that her major, integrated language arts, can take longer than four years.

She is also minoring in religion, which crammed her workload as far as credit hours. She also really likes that the university is helping her graduate within four years and if she can’t then they are willing to pay for her leftover classes. 

Morgan acknowledges that while she has decided to stick with the program the guarantee has its flaws. 

“It is very challenging for me to meet my criteria. I have to meet with my advisor to talk about my plans and classes often,” she said.

An unhelpful advisor is another reason the four-year guarantee might be problematic. 

Fortunately for Morgan, she loves her extremely helpful advisor. 

“She really helped me with my four-year plan and gave me a list of all the classes and their semester rotations, which was a great help seeing as I had no idea that not every class is taught every semester,” she said.

But an accommodating advisor didn’t solve all of Morgan’s problems. 

“There is a huge inconvenience with the plan. The only time they will pay is if I get kicked out of a class. I can’t take 16 credit hours and think the school will pay for me after four years. I’m taking 20-21 credit hours until I graduate which is a downside,” she said. 

“It’s not a program that people should use if they are not planning on being studious in college. It’s hard work.”

Ohio Northern University has started executing a similar guarantee in which they offer the same benefits as AU, should the eligible student not be able to complete their schooling after four years. According to their website the guarantee was put in place to help ensure that students who take out loans to finance their higher education will minimize student debt. 

ONU only has four requirements in order to qualify for the guarantee and starting on October of 2014, incoming freshmen will be provided with information during orientation regarding the program to explore the guarantee’s guidelines and details.

The program might have potential if it was more attainable or perhaps if it was pitched more perceptively.