Despite improved access in expanded postsecondary systems, the great majority of bachelor’s degree graduates are taking considerably longer than the allotted four years to complete their four-year degrees. Taking longer to finish one’s BA has become so pervasive in the United States that it has become the norm for official statistics released by the Department of Education to report graduation rates across a six-year window. While higher education scholars have increasingly explored how social class impacts college dropout, attrition, and completion, they have yet to examine the role social class plays in completing a four-year bachelor’s degree on time. In this paper, we draw on the most recent cohort of the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Survey (2008–2009) to examine who completes their bachelor’s degrees on time. Our results indicate that despite controlling for academic performance, educational behaviors, program characteristics, and institutional characteristics, graduates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds do experience difficulties completing their degrees on time. Moreover, our results also reveal that the nature of these relationships vary for traditional and nontraditional students. Our findings highlight another important, albeit less obvious, way where inequality is maintained in expanded postsecondary systems.

中文翻译：

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你怎么这么久？考察四年中社会阶层对完成学士学位的影响

尽管扩大了高等教育体系，但大多数学士学位毕业生完成四年制学位所需的时间比分配的四年要长得多。在美国，花更长的时间完成学士学位的情况如此普遍，以至于它已经成为教育部发布的用于在六年时间内报告毕业率的官方统计数据的规范。尽管高等教育学者越来越多地探索社会阶层如何影响大学辍学，损耗和结业，但他们尚未研究社会阶层在按时完成四年制学士学位方面的作用。在本文中，我们借鉴了最新的学士学位和纵向调查（2008-2009），研究了谁按时完成了学士学位的学习。我们的结果表明，尽管控制了学业成绩，教育行为，课程特征和机构特征，但来自较低社会经济背景的毕业生的确难以按时完成学位。此外，我们的研究结果还表明，这些关系的性质对于传统和非传统学生而言是不同的。我们的发现强调了另一个重要的方法，尽管不那么明显，但在扩大的中学后系统中保持不平等。我们的研究结果还表明，这些关系的性质对于传统和非传统学生而言是不同的。我们的发现强调了另一个重要的方法，尽管不那么明显，但在扩大的中学后系统中保持不平等。我们的研究结果还表明，这些关系的性质对于传统和非传统学生而言是不同的。我们的发现强调了另一个重要的方法，尽管不那么明显，但在扩大的中学后系统中保持不平等。