Intervention (Hidden)
The textual content of the information sheets are as follows:
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(2) Encouragement to take a full course load with no reasoning:
Welcome to CSU Fullerton!
Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from CSU Fullerton requires the completion of 120 credits.
If you’d like to graduate in four years, that boils down to 30 credits per year, or 15 credits per semester.
CSU Fullerton recommends that you try to take 15 credits per semester, so that you can graduate within four years. You should think of 15 credits as the default amount to take.
[Image of happy students]
There are plenty of resources available to help you with this! Faculty and staff advisors are at hand. Please consider taking 15 credits when registering.
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(3) Encouragement with financial reasoning:
Welcome to CSU Fullerton!
Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from CSU Fullerton requires the completion of 120 credits.
If you’d like to graduate in four years, that boils down to 30 credits per year, or 15 credits per semester.
Taking 15 credits can make a big difference! If you took 12 credits instead, it would take you an extra year to graduate.
But what’s one extra year?
It turns out that an extra year can be expensive! Not only do you have to pay tuition and fees – an estimated $6,560 – for that entire year, you are also spending an extra year earning less money! The average recent graduate earns about double what the average enrolled student does. That’s a good reason to get your degree, and also a good reason to finish in four years – that fifth year costs on average $23,081 in lost earnings.
[Graphic showing the additional costs of staying an extra year]
So that extra year could cost you nearly $30,000! That’s a pretty good reason to take 15 credits each semester.
CSU Fullerton recommends that you try to take 15 credits per semester, so that you can graduate within four years. You should think of 15 credits as the default amount to take.
[Image of happy students]
There are plenty of resources available to help you with this! Faculty and staff advisors are at hand. Please consider taking 15 credits when registering.
[Estimated tuition and fees per year provided by the CSU Budget Office. Earnings information is from the 2016 Current Population Survey, comparing current college enrollees aged 20-25 to bachelor’s degree holders aged 20-25.]
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(4) Encouragement with social-normalizing reasoning:
Welcome to CSU Fullerton!
Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from CSU Fullerton requires the completion of 120 credits.
If you’d like to graduate in four years, that boils down to 30 credits per year, or 15 credits per semester.
Doing this is not impossible! In fact, nationally, two out of every three college graduates finishes within four years. This goes even if we just limit things to public colleges like CSUF. At public colleges, 60% of college graduates finish within four years. Taking enough credits to graduate in four years is the norm!
[Graphic demonstrating that 2/3 college graduates finishes within four years]
Taking 15 credits might be a bit more work while you’re here, but you’re not alone in doing it! And you can get your degree that much faster.
CSU Fullerton recommends that you try to take 15 credits per semester, so that you can graduate within four years. You should think of 15 credits as the default amount to take.
[Image of happy students]
There are plenty of resources available to help you with this! Faculty and staff advisors are at hand. Please consider taking 15 credits when registering.
[Statistics on graduation rates taken from the National Center for Education Statistics 2015 Digest of Education Statistics. Figures are from the starting cohort of 2008.]
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(5) Encouragement with both financial and social-normalizing reasoning:
Welcome to CSU Fullerton!
Graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from CSU Fullerton requires the completion of 120 credits.
If you’d like to graduate in four years, that boils down to 30 credits per year, or 15 credits per semester.
Doing this is not impossible! In fact, nationally, two out of every three college graduates finishes within four years. This goes even if we just limit things to public colleges like CSUF. At public colleges, 60% of college graduates finish within four years. Taking enough credits to graduate in four years is the norm!
[Graphic demonstrating that 2/3 college graduates finishes within four years]
Taking 15 credits might be a bit more work while you’re here, but you’re not alone in doing it! And you can get your degree that much faster.
But what’s one extra year, anyway? Why should you try to graduate more quickly?
It turns out that an extra year can be expensive! Not only do you have to pay tuition and fees – an estimated $6,560 – for that entire year, you are also spending an extra year earning less money! The average recent graduate earns about double what the average enrolled student does. That’s a good reason to get your degree, and also a good reason to finish in four years – that fifth year costs on average $23,081 in lost earnings.
[Graphic showing the additional costs of staying an extra year]
So that extra year could cost you nearly $30,000! That’s a pretty good reason to take 15 credits each semester.
CSU Fullerton recommends that you try to take 15 credits per semester, so that you can graduate within four years. You should think of 15 credits as the default amount to take.
[Image of happy students]
There are plenty of resources available to help you with this! Faculty and staff advisors are at hand. Please consider taking 15 credits when registering.
[Estimated tuition and fees per year provided by the CSU Budget Office. Earnings information is from the 2016 Current Population Survey, comparing current college enrollees aged 20-25 to bachelor’s degree holders aged 20-25.]