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Only 17 percent of students who start at Portland State as full-time freshmen earn a degree in four years.

(Doug Beghtel / The Oregonian / 2012)

Trying to position itself as affordable in an era of rising student debt,

on Tuesday unveiled a guarantee that students who are extremely on the ball will be able to graduate in four years -- or get any fifth-year classes for free.

Participating students "will have the sources and the advising they need to graduate in four years," President Wim Wiewel said.

But the pledge comes with plenty of caveats. Students have to declare a major at the start of freshman year, pass a full load of 45 credits every year, earn decent grades and generally refrain from changing majors, adding minors and switching campuses.

Graduating in five or six years or more -- not four -- is the norm at PSU, state figures show. Just 17 percent of students who started at PSU as full-time freshmen in 2006-07 graduated in four years. But the graduation rate reached 45 percent after six years, the state reports.

after earning about half their credits at Portland Community College or other community colleges. Those students won't be eligible for the four-year guarantee.

PSU Provost Sona Andrews acknowledged the plan also won't work for many PSU students who start there as freshmen because they need to work to pay for school or support families and can't attend full time all year.

Still, she said, the guarantee will benefit students who don't sign up as well as those who do because it will put more of the onus on PSU to offer students all the courses they need, when they need them, so students have a clear path to graduation within four years in all majors.

PSU President Wim Wiewel announced the four-year guarantee in the presence of a student who might benefit, Grant High senior and aspiring PSU business major Aysia King, who attended with her mom, Renee Williams, and a counselor, Anthony Lackey.

Many universities in other states already offer such a pledge. It does not appear that huge numbers of students sign up for the guarantees or remain eligible, given the requirements to stick with a major and complete a full load of classes, said Brian Prescott, director of policy research at the

.

But the guarantee could help a university compete for students whose parents want assurances they won't get caught with an expensive fifth year of tuition, room and board, and who like the idea that an adviser will carefully watch over the student's progress each term, he said.

U.S. high schools are graduating fewer students now than they did a few years ago, so universities are competing more fiercely to fill their campuses and keep their finances afloat.

Oregon's class of 2011 was the largest in history, Prescott's estimates indicate. The high school class of 2014, whose diploma-holders will be the first eligible for PSU's new four-year guarantee, will be 5 percent smaller, meaning colleges will have to compete more effectively to get a freshman class as large as this year's.

Matt Gianneschi, vice president of policy at the Education Commission of the States, said four-year guarantees are designed to help meet the needs of universities. Having students declare their majors early and stick with them helps the institution plan ahead for what courses to offer.

And giving students an incentive to take a full-time load and graduate on time can earn a university extra state funding as more states, including Oregon, move toward "performance-based funding" for higher education, Giannesechi said.

"Basically, they are trying to compel good behavior among students," he said. And that can be good for students.

"You need to declare a major, take a full-time load, sign up early for your classes and if anything seems to go wrong, go and see your adviser. Now, that may sound silly that they require that. Who wouldn't go see their adviser?

"Well, college students are erratic. That's what 19-year-olds do. So they're trying to create structures that would be available to any student anyway: register early, declare your major, take 15 credit hours. It may have no effect.. How many students will actually do it? But the research is pretty darn clear that student who register on time and take a full load and meet with their adviser regularly, those students do well."

-- Betsy Hammond