Think that all it takes to graduate is 34 credits? Think again.
In addition to completing their majors and racking up enough courses, Tufts students must fulfill the "residency requirement," involving eight semesters of full-time study. In order to graduate in seven semesters, a student needs a total of five credits from either pre-matriculation courses, such as Advanced Placement classes, or Tufts summer school. To graduate a full year early, a student needs nine such credits.
The policy further states that all students must complete at least four semesters at Tufts or on Tufts programs abroad. Once a student enters the university, no more than two semesters may be spent at other schools or abroad programs.
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Jean Herbert said that these requirements are meant to enhance students' time at college.
"There is a feeling that the intellectual experience involves not just a matter of racking up classes, but as residential colleges, there is so much more outside the classroom," Herbert said. "We didn't want students overloading to get the credits done to graduate sooner."
Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser similarly stated that eliminating the residency requirement could leave some students feeling pressured to fulfill their credits quickly, compromising both academic quality and the general college experience.
"Our sense is that an undergraduate education requires a certain amount of time to take advantage of the academic and extracurricular opportunities. We don't want students to rush through their education, and we don't want to create incentives for parents to rush their children through their education," he said.
"You would require students to take six credits or seven credits a semester, and to maximize the number of credits that you accumulated to leave the university early. If you do that, you're not giving full attention to your classes, you're not maximizing the likelihood of success and you're giving up something, because education is outside the classroom as well."
Although only a small percentage of students choose to accelerate their graduation each year, Herbert said she has seen a rise in the number of students exploring the option and attributed this increase to one reason. "I'm sure it's the economy," she said.
Some students looking to save money are frustrated that fulfilling the required number of credits is not enough to graduate early. Senior Martina Santarsieri, who plans on graduating a semester early, said the policy was an annoyance, and speculated that Tufts implemented it to avoid losing money.
"I got really mad about it because I could have graduated even sooner. I definitely would have graduated a year early if there was no residency requirement. This semester, I'm taking classes just to fulfill the requirement. I had finished my major requirements. They want me on campus. It's basically that [Tufts] just want[s] your money and that's not really fair," she said.
"I mean, I like being on campus and hanging out with my friends and I do like the classes I'm taking this semester, but I don't think it's worth $27,000."
While Glaser emphasized that Tufts employs the policy primarily with students' experiences in mind, he acknowledged that it played an important role in helping the university manage its accounts.
"It's not so much that we're trying to grab every nickel. We need there to be a predictable flow of resources into the university," Glaser said.
Senior Stephanie Balitzer said that while the economy may make early graduation more appealing to students, she feels the university is right to maintain the residency policy.
"I think Tufts tries to discourage people from graduating early but I don't think it has to do with tuition," Balitzer said. "Some people think it's a Tufts conspiracy to get tuition, but I think they think that in order to have a full education and to earn the degree you should be here for four years, you should study abroad and have the full experience."
Often, the students who have the biggest problem with the residency requirement are those who do not find out that it exists until late in their college careers. Glaser said that one of his main goals has been to publicize the policy so that students can plan accordingly.
"We want them to know about it from the moment they set foot here so they can plan what's right for them," he said. "This year we sent a message to all families. It's in the Bulletin and it's very clear but we want to make sure incoming families know about [the possibility of graduating early] if it's something they want to take advantage of."
But some students do not feel the policy is common knowledge.
Sophomore Manuel Guzman agreed that those familiar with the residency requirement are mainly students who were already interested in graduating in less than eight semesters.
"It's not super visible and it's not advertised in any way. But it is in the Pachyderm and it is clearly written. It's a question of whether you're interested in the information. There are ways of finding it," Guzman said.
"I don't know that they make that specific policy altogether explicit, but there's not a [large] desire on campus or push to graduate early," senior Abby Marion said.
Santarsieri argued that with more publicity, the option of graduating early might become more popular.
"I don't think it's made well known. It could be made more clear and it does save you a lot of money. It's a good option for people if they can do it and it's not really well publicized," she said.
Guzman said that part of the reason for the requirement has to do with peer institutions that also require a certain number of semesters of study. For example, both Harvard University and Amherst College require eight semesters of study, with early graduation only approved in special cases.
"At most selective colleges and universities, there is a residency requirement," Herbert said, adding that Tufts is less strict than other colleges and calling this an indicator that the school is not simply trying to make a profit. "I'm in the academic realm, not the financial realm, but I think the university is losing money by allowing the combination of APs and summer classes. They could be saying ‘no.' Some schools do that, where you have to do eight academic semesters. We don't do that; we allow this option."
Additionally, Glaser recently reformed the requirements in order to be more accommodating to students.
Before Fall 2007, in order to earn a semester's worth of credit one needed either four Tufts summer school credits or four pre-matriculation credits; blending the two types was not permitted. "That seemed silly and was much more restrictive," Herbert said.
So the school changed the policy. "I believe [the move has] been very welcomed by students and their families," Glaser said.
Even with these changes, the residency requirement undeniably succeeds in doing one thing: keeping students on campus.
"The value of the Tufts diploma means something from the institution. If you strip semesters from that diploma, you devalue it in a significant way. If you graduate from Tufts without being at Tufts for a long time then, yes, you're a Tufts student, but not really, because you haven't experienced the full Tufts experience," Guzman said.
