Newly instated this year, the Grand Finish program applies to incoming freshmen as well as those enrolled at GVSU since 2008. Anyone who earns 90 credits by the end of his or her third year, averaging 15 credits a semester, will receive $1,000 toward tuition for senior year. Transfer students can also take part in the Grand Finish by averaging 30 credits a year at GVSU for $500 in their senior year. The goal is keep students on track to graduate in four years and reward them for doing so with grant money as well as saving them the cost of extra semesters’ worth of tuition.

Despite the focus on timely graduation, some of GVSU’s requirements actually make it more difficult for students to graduate on time or even early. A degree at GVSU is made up of different parts such as credits toward a major, credits for a minor, B.A./B.S. requirements, general education curriculum, a theme and an overall total number of 120 credits.

All of these components contribute to the GVSU goal of a well-rounded liberal education. However, not all of these requirements are directly beneficial to a specific degree. They can do more harm than good when a student is prohibited from graduating in order to fulfill the necessary credits for a theme or free electives.

The class requirements of different majors are in some cases unequal. Although 15 credits is the recommended average per semester, some students in the medical or science fields will find it difficult to meet all their programs requirements in four years, even with the standard workload. Other programs, such as the education minor at GVSU, have been reworked throughout the years. While it is good to update curriculum to keep it relevant to today’s job field, the changing requirements make it difficult for current students to keep up with the new demands and stay on track to complete their degrees.

Also, students are limited by the maximum number of credits they can take each semester. The Grand Finish recommends 15 per semester and the maximum number a student can take for the standard tuition rate is 16. The cost for 12-16 credits for lower level courses is $4,544 each semester and $4,660 for upper division credits, a rate which balances out to slightly more than the typical cost of 12 credits but less than the cost would be for 16. Any credits above 16 costs the students an extra $395-$414 per credit hour beyond the regular tuition rate. Special approval is also required for students wishing to take more than 20 credits in a semester. Those students who want to take on a larger workload and try to graduate early are discouraged from doing so by the added cost and requirements necessary to get their plan approved.

While the overall goal of GVSU’s curriculum and graduation requirements benefits most students, there are still discrepancies from program to program. Certain combinations of majors, minors, themes and internships can hold students well beyond the four-year ideal enrollment time. It is also possible for a student to have met all of his or her major requirements, gen. ed. courses and elective credits, yet still not have the total number required to graduate.

The point of college is not to speed through it, and a well-rounded education is more important than simply learning the basics of a single career path. But a student should not be penalized financially or otherwise for trying to meet these requirements faster than the university predicted.