By: Tyla Matthews | Staff Writer
According to U.S. News & World Report, just over half of students who enroll in the University of Lynchburg go on to graduate. That’s a noticeable drop from 66% for the 2015 cohort. Since then, graduation numbers have mostly trended downwards, dropping to 60% in 2016, rising slightly to 62% in 2017, then falling again to 57% in 2018 before reaching today’s low of 52%.
For at least one Lynchburg senior, the downward trend has become a personal obstacle.
Willow Martin, a psychology major with a minor in criminology, has spent four years at the University of Lynchburg, trusting that her advisors were keeping her on track to graduate. However, a week and a half after winter break, an email from the registrar stated she wouldn’t be graduating in May.
“If I was so behind, wouldn’t my psych advisor have said something earlier?” Martin said. “This is a whole semester’s worth of classes that they didn’t tell me I needed until it was too late to do anything about it.”
Martin needs 11 additional upper-level psychology credits before she can graduate. University of Lynchburg’s policy requires that students have no more than nine credits remaining to walk at commencement. The last time she spoke with her advisor was junior year, when she was told she was still on track to graduate. Since then, she has yet to hear anything.
Dr. Amy Merrill Willis, director of General Education and Coordinator of Integrative Seminars, acknowledged that degree completion isn’t always straightforward for students, especially when balancing multiple requirements.
“Every student is trying to make all the pieces fit together the best way they know how,” Willis said.
As for general education requirements, Willis added that the Dell General Education curriculum, which requires 31 credit hours, is designed to overlap with major and minor requirements. This is meant to give students flexibility in the path they build for graduation.
“We want students to have those strong foundational skills when taking general education courses, but we also want you to be able to choose classes that interest you now for your majors,” Willis said.
To learn more about academic advising and graduation requirements, visit https://www.lynchburg.edu/academics/academic-offices-and-services/academic-advising/course-registration-and-planning/
