For most college students, their college plan usually is four years. After students complete their four years, they intend to either continue their schooling or find an entry-level job. However, sometimes plans change. Sometimes students need an extra semester or two to finish their degrees. Therefore, students get classified as fifth year or “super” seniors. However, this classification has a stigma is attached to it.

As a fifth year or “super” senior, students typically create negative assumptions as to why I am still in college. They usually ask me: Didn’t you graduate? Why are you still here? Did you fail a class? Why couldn’t you finish in four years?  Do you have two majors?  Are you in graduate program? Did you take a semester or year off of school?

Do any of these questions this sound familiar to you?  Are you tried of explaining why you need an extra semester or year? I am. The stigma of fifth year seniors has to change.

In addition to the questions we get asked as fifth year seniors, our self-esteem diminishes. We feel ashamed because we couldn’t graduate in four years. I even have some of my friends say that they identify as four and a half year seniors.

There are many reasons why students need the extra semester or year. They may have changed their major later in their college career. They may have added a major or minor. They may have needed to spread out classes. Or they may have studied abroad and not all of their credits transferred. Each student has a different situation. When I was a junior, I changed my major from Biology to English: Rhetoric and Writing; therefore, I need an extra semester to finish my new major.

Would I have liked to finish college in four years? Yes. I would have saved an extra semester of tuition as well as housing costs. But unfortunately, life can take us in a different direction than we would have originally thought. Sometimes it takes students until their sophomore or junior year to really know which major they want to pursue. They take general education classes that made them re-think their future career goals. While I changed my major as a junior, it was the best decision I have ever made.

My question for stigma followers: Why does it matter that I needed an extra semester? With my extra semester, I have had more opportunities to build my resume and professional profile. I even got a change to take more courses that I couldn’t take if I didn’t have this extra semester.

Whether you are an education, mathematics, biology, finance, communications or music major, your college plan is different. Changes may occur that can affect the number of years you will be in school. Unfortunately, students create negative assumptions as to why we need the extra semester or year in college. However, we should embrace our extra time in college because it will be one of the best learning experiences in our lives.