There are plenty of reasons why students are taking longer to graduate. Students always are transferring schools and credits can be lost along the way. Students can change their minds about what they want to do in life and decide to pursue another major, which means they’ll have to take more classes. Of course, the reason why a student is taking longer is relative to the individual.

What might be the reason students are taking an extra year to complete their degree is the need for more real world experience outside of college. In an ever-uncertain job market, the ability to prove you can do what you’re learning inside the classroom out of it is at its most important.

This is not uncommon in today’s age as employers have moved beyond the point of taking someone’s word for it and want to see some proof you can actually do the job they’re applying for.

The job market is what it is right now and it doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. That doesn’t mean students can’t be as aptly prepared as they can’t possibly be. Adding an extra semester or two isn’t the ideal situation people want to be in and take on more debt, but the experience somebody can gain with that time spent outside of the classroom is unparalleled and so much more valuable than anything else.

Extracurricular activities take a lot of somebody’s free time, but it’s so much more valuable than any amount of time somebody can spend in the classroom. This is what employers will be looking at and evaluating when it comes time to decide between who they’re going to hire. Know how to do the job you want before you get it.

If someone doesn’t have the skill set needed for the job they want and hasn’t proved they can do it outside of what their GPA says, then why should that employer hire them? The ability to prove yourself is more important now than ever before.

This isn’t to say people should take their time at college and stay six or seven years. Unless you’re trying to attain a medical degree, nobody actually wants to be like Van Wilder and stay that long. Five years is now accepted as the norm to graduate. Four years always is the best case scenario because no student wants to incur any more debt than they need to, but as Bob Dylan once sang, “The times they are a-changin’,” and so is what employers are looking for.