How to Graduate College in 2025 (Finally)

Higher Education is not a race. Some students graduate college in four years, some in one, some in eight. Some are only attempting to get associate’s degrees, others go to community college to acquire enough college courses to transfer credits into a better school where they can get their bachelor’s degree.

Some students work full-time while taking on a large course load, others have all the time in the world to take every college class to fulfill their degree requirements while also participating in an impressive amount of extracurriculars.

Graduation rates show students actually fulfilling all their requirements isn't as standard practice as one would hope. On 2023, the four year college graduation rate was 62%, a slight improvement from years prior.

The image above breaks down the graduation rate further by sex, employment rate, and type of institution.

It's our hope that the knowledge imparted in guides like this can contribute to more graduates and more knowledge.

Table of Contents

• College Credits Outside of College

• Course Loads

• Using Your Advisors

• Balancing a Large Course Load With Mental Health

• Conclusion

College Credits Outside of College

For those reading while still in high school, taking AP (advanced placement) courses can give you college credits that work toward your four-year degree to lighten your load when you arrive in college.

If you’re not enrolled in any AP courses though, you can still work toward your college education requirements by taking college board CLEP exams, or if you’re currently an employed professional, many of the training programs required for employees to take can be transferred into college credits.

To see if training programs you’ve completed are eligible for college credits, check the American Council of Education's National Guide.

Course Load

A bachelor’s degree requires a minimum of 120 credits, usually, students space these out throughout four years at 30 credits a year. This allows students to strike the perfect balance between learning and having a fulfilling college experience.

Today though, many are ditching any pre-conceived notions of what a college experience should be and loading up on courses to finish sooner than the expected four years. If you want to take on a larger course load to finish college faster, you ought to choose your courses strategically though.

Doubling-up refers to strategically choosing courses that fulfill two or more college requirements. Many general ed classes can be doubled-up so you can take one class but acquire double the credits.

Piling up on classes might not be the right solution for your learning style though. The graph above is from a Springer study which measured how GPA changes depending on course load. It showed that after 5 courses, GPA's seem to decrease.

Using Your Advisors

College students looking to get a college degree faster than the typical four years should meet with their advisors to help them strategically put together a plan.

Some colleges limit the amount of credits you can take every semester from 15, 18, or 20, while others make special exceptions. Knowing your college’s course load policy is integral to graduating early if that’s your goal.

Balancing A Large Course Load With Mental Health

A larger course load can be a huge strain upon a student, especially with all the homework and reading that comes with each of these classes. In order to balance the school work you’ve burdened yourself with, students should be leveraging all the tools at their disposal, which includes AI.

AI tools like ChatGPT or undetectable tools like StealthGPT allow students to use AI study aids that help them generate study guides, quizzes, or flashcards, or read and summarize documents and notes from their courses.

If a student needs help writing any of their assignments, these undetectable tools allow users to generate plagiarism-free text that, with the right AI practices, ensure they won't be penalized.

Conclusion

Whether you’re reading while knee-deep in your first year of college and itching to finish so you can work toward a Master’s degree, or you’re a high school graduate taking summer classes, or you're working the night shift and wondering how you’ll ever finish school, this article will help you finish your degree programs early.

To summarize our tips again:

• Figure out if any of the training courses or exams you’ve taken already can transfer over into college credit.

• Strategically pick your course load to take on more than the average student while also choosing classes that can count as double the average amount of college credits per class.

• Take full advantage of advisors before and after enrollment in school to put together a strategy for you to graduate early.

• Use AI tools to improve your study habits and lighten your homework and reading load.

College is expensive. After student loans and financial aid, higher education credentials are a worthwhile but difficult undertaking. As daunting as a four year degree is, if you take graduation seriously, you can get ahead of the pack and be the exception to the rule.