“It’s a confluence of several pieces — we’ve got a long-term commitment to students at MSU,” Wilcox said, adding that this is an attempt to make the best use of students’ time and money.

He said some colleges, including the College of Social Science, are working to revamp their requisites necessary for degrees.

Wilcox added that no timetable exists for such a rollout of changes, as they are up to each college’s discretion, but Mike Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, is encouraged by the university’s effort.

“That is so awesome,” he said. “Any measures you can take to reduce time to (obtaining a) degree … reduces the cost for the student.”

Boulus said sometimes, when students are working toward a five- or six-year degree, they drop out of the university early because of the increasing cost of attendance and skyrocketing debt.

Athletic training senior Hayley Ward said she’s glad officials are paying attention to students’ costs, even though she plans to take summer courses to graduate.

“They make it almost impossible to graduate on time with everything you have to do,” she said.

According to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon’s 2012 State of the University report, 11,004 degrees were awarded with a six-year graduation rate of 77 percent during the 2010-11 academic year.

The four-year graduation rate for the entering class of 2006 was 52 percent, according to MSU’s Data Digest 2011.

In light of fewer state appropriation dollars funneling into the state’s 15 public universities to bolster up higher education, Boulus said officials have been controlling costs to make institutions more efficient.

Reductions in overhead administrative costs, for example, have decreased by about $400 per student statewide, he said. Although state dollars are down, Boulus said he’s both hopeful and optimistic of Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 3 percent increase of higher education dollars in the next year — but there needs to be a long-term commitment to the state’s students.

“I think we’ve turned a corner, (and) I think Michigan is on its way back,” he said.

Members of the Business Leaders for Michigan met on a conference call Wednesday morning and expressed commitment by the state and universities to convince students to remain in Michigan post-graduation and improve the economy.

“Higher education needs to be a higher priority in the (state) budget than it is today, (and) from a university standpoint, there’s got to be a commitment to efficiency,” president and CEO of Domino’s Pizza J. Patrick Doyle said on the call.