Apparently a 2-year degree takes 3-years to earn and a 4-year degree is typically completed in 6-years. The Department of Education reported that 2/3 of students who had entered a 4-year college in 2006 were able to graduate by 2012. Aside from the longer time to earn a degree, students are incurring a larger financial burden in terms of student loans and loss of potential income.

Do you know how this compares to 10 or 20 years ago? Why are they taking longer than they're supposed to?

The source article cites a "lack of guidance and too many choices," but doesn't really substantiate that. I'm not convinced by that explanation. I can tell you with some degree of certainty, having experienced it myself, that part of it is due to overbearing liberal education requirements at a lot of schools.

Thanks guys for the comments. It made me take another. One explanation is that many students change majors midway through college. Another is that while juggling internships and course loads, students opt to reduce their scheduled courses to make it all work. After all, what's a degree worth without experience and vice verse. Still many students eventually work more hours and decrease their course loads in the hope of not incurring too much debt. It would appear that not any one factor but multiple factors contribute to the issue of not attaining the 4-year degree in a timely fashion.

Here's another link: business.time.com/2013/01/10/…

I would think that it also varies by school and major. Some schools may have very good, attentive advisors while others may not. Also, certain departments are very large and understaffed making it difficult for students to receive personal guidance. Speaking for myself, I received very little guidance up until my 3rd year in College. However, it is important to note a personal variable. If you don't go looking for guidance it is unlikely that guidance will looking for you.