It’s a simple question that can give students pause. It’s not unusual for academic planning or life circumstances to mean that the number of years a student has been on campus doesn’t perfectly match their official year of study.

Say a student chooses to take 12 credits a term instead of 15 (four courses instead of five). Or they take a semester off. Or they sign up for extra classes every Spring/Summer term. Or they choose to extend their program with a practicum or cooperative education experience.

Four-year degrees, two-year diplomas and one-year certificates sound good on paper, but the timelines don’t always match up in real life. 

“It feels like a bit of a generational shift – that there has been some kind of outside pressure to complete a program in a specific timeframe and some stigma around not doing so,” says Karen Ravagnolo, academic advising manager at MacEwan University. “These days, we’re more focused on students having agency to manage their own schedules. We’re bringing light to the flexibility that, in many cases, has always existed and trying to remove that stigma around taking the time you need.”

According to Statistics Canada data, the reality is that only 38.4 per cent of students who began an undergraduate degree finished in four years. After six years, that number jumped to 74.8 per cent.

One of the most significant shifts academic advisors have made in recent years? Working to reframe the concept of a four-year degree program in students’ minds.

“Instead, we talk about number of credits and program structure to emphasize that there are usually ways to find flexibility in many programs,” she says. “Teaching students the basics of program structure, policies and procedures means they can walk away feeling prepared to make academic decisions and empowered to say, ‘Hey, maybe I need to stop and think about the right course load for me.’”

How does all of this roll out in real life? Here, seven students and alumni share how they are smashing the traditional academic timelines – opting to slow their university experience down, speed it up, stick around for the long haul or even take an extended break.

Sometimes, you’ve got to slow it down

Abigail Pascua, BScN ’24, was in her second year on campus when she found herself questioning whether she was in the right program. “I didn't really like nursing during my first and second years – I hated it – and my classes were taking a toll," she says. “I remember going up to my nursing communications prof and telling her that I was thinking about taking a semester off.”

She was surprised by her professor's response, which emphasized the flexibility of that particular course and offered a solution that worked for Pascua. “I ended up taking just that one class for the semester and dropped everything else.” 

It wasn't a decision she took lightly. “I had a hard time with the idea that I wouldn’t graduate with the cohort I started with,” she says. And then there was the worry about what other people would say.

“There were times I beat myself up for taking too long to finish nursing school and had a hard time listening to the people who would ask why I didn't just power through, but at the end of the day, I had to do what I had to do for my mental health.”

Her profs agreed. “They were quite supportive. I had many instructors talk about how university isn't a race and how it doesn't really make a difference if you finish now or six months from now.”

That time away allowed Pascua to step back and reflect and reignited the spark that led her to choose nursing in the first place. “When I took some time and space, I ended up loving nursing. Now, I work in intensive care. For me, it was all worth it.” 

Pascua says that taking a semester off is easy enough – she could just go back the next semester and pick up where she left off. Ravagnolo agrees, noting that slowing things down in shorter programs that also include practicums or real-world experiences can have more significant time implications. “But that doesn't mean it's not possible.”

Massage Therapy student Amanda Frank knows this to be true. Her decision to take what has traditionally been a two-year program over four years came down to the fact that she learns differently. 

“I need extra time to prepare for exams and assignments,” says Frank, who was diagnosed with both types of ADHD, depression and severe anxiety several years ago. “Extending gave me open space in my day where not only could I work almost full-time hours but also spread my time evenly between my classes, see my friends, call my family, and mentally not feel so tense and aggravated.”

In her final semester now, Frank says she wants other students to know their options.

“You don't have to do a program just one way – you can be creative and shape your experience to fit what you need. I have this feeling of accomplishment now. I'm glad and proud that I stuck with it and excited to put everything I've learned to work and build my career.” 

Ravagnolo agrees with the advice Frank shared with this year's cohort of Massage Therapy students during their orientation: If you're even vaguely interested in flexible approaches to your program, do not wait. 

“It’s important to connect with a program advisor right away,” she says. “In some cases, there are long-term timing and student financing impacts, so it's important to ask questions so you are prepared to make educated decisions.”

Sometimes, you need to go faster

Nevin Janzen, Bachelor of Arts ’24, arrived at MacEwan after his career as an architectural facade worker in the construction industry fell apart during the pandemic. As an adult student with no time to waste, he piled on the classes, taking the maximum number of courses allowed every single term throughout the year, including Spring and Summer (he even managed six courses one semester with special permission from the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science). 

It wasn't without its challenges. Janzen's son was born prematurely in July 2021 and spent a month in the NICU battling lung problems. At the same time, an immune system attack took away the political science grad's ability to walk. A little more than two years later, just two months after celebrating the birth of his daughter, Janzen's son stopped breathing and had to have emergency open-heart surgery. 

Thankfully, his son is healthy now, but his extended hospital stay almost prevented Janzen from graduating in 3.5 years, as planned. 

“During the difficult times, I knew I had to keep going,” says Janzen, who received the Dean's Medal for Academic Excellence at Convocation in Spring 2024. “I loved learning and was rewarded for it. With much encouragement and support from faculty, my studies were my reprieve and anchor.”

Condensing an already demanding program isn't for everyone and requires a lot of planning. 

“Thinking ahead and being strategic is really important,” says Ravagnolo. “Looking ahead a year in advance, thinking about prerequisites, considering Spring/Summer term courses and knowing where they fit in early can let students build a schedule that works for them.”

But Ravagnolo also cautions about thinking too far ahead. 

“Sometimes we have students who plan every course of their entire program during their first semester,” she says. “That's a lot of pressure. If a student takes a course they don't like – or like so much it leads in a new direction – they have to deviate from a plan they've put a lot of time into. It’s good to have a sense of what you want, but there’s also value in being responsive and going with the flow of where your university experience takes you.”

Sometimes, it's multi-generational

Diana Eyestone's first semester at MacEwan started out a bit rough. “In my last year of high school, I only needed to take three classes each semester, so the jump to five university-level classes was a lot. It was too much. And it kicked my butt for two weeks.” 

Then they got some advice from their mom, Heather Eyestone, who also happens to be a MacEwan student.

“We had a lot of conversations around the expectation that when you sign up for something, you have to stick with it,” says Heather. “But one of the things they instill in us in the first year of the Bachelor of Child and Youth Care is the self-care component of being a student – making sure we have quality of life in our studies. So Diana and I decided it’s okay to give yourself permission and grace to take that step back.” 

Heather also encouraged Diana to take advantage of the Sport and Wellness membership available to all full-time students and to find different ways to work through the challenges of university life. 

“If one of us gets struck, we body double – just share space in the same room, usually without talking – to get through that,” says Heather. “You can sit in a chair and spend hours trying to come up with something, but sometimes having a person near you to bounce an idea off of or to look at a citation provides an anchor that keeps you grounded and focused." 

And while it's no Melissa McCarthy movie, fringe benefits come with going to school with your mom – like sharing a locker. 

“My mom leaves treats for me on the days she is at MacEwan, and sometimes we leave little notes for each other,” says Diana. “Being a first-year student can be scary, but knowing that my mom has been here and done it makes it easier.”

Heather also respects that Diana could have gone anywhere and chose to go to MacEwan. “I want them to experience university for themselves and not feel like their mom is hiding around campus and could pop out anytime.” 

Sometimes, you’re here for the long haul

Like many MacEwan students, Victoria Hoang, Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration ’24, always knew her university experience wouldn't end with a single program. 

“I started my post-secondary journey at MacEwan with the Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy Assistant program,” she says. “It was a great experience, but I always planned to continue my studies.”

When she started looking at other university programs, she also contacted a MacEwan advisor to see what might fit. They directed her to the Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration program. 

“I needed a program that could bridge the gap from my diploma to a master's degree in physical or occupational therapy with an online program so I could continue working,” says Hoang. “It was only 2.5 years to get my degree; it was flexible with my schedule, and it taught me about management in a way that would be useful in the future.”

The idea of learners engaging – and re-engaging – with MacEwan at different points in their lives is integral to the concept of "smashing the calendar" outlined in the university's strategic vision. 

“Throughout MacEwan's history, the ability to build, ladder and be responsive has always been part of an advisor's strategy when working with students,” says Ravagnolo.

Harlee Courpatte, now an award-winning Indigenous entrepreneur and community leader, was 33 years old and a self-described Grade 10 dropout when he arrived at MacEwan. “I worked in the oilfield as a fireproofer, but I really didn’t like it. It paid enough, but I wanted more for myself,” he says.

After some academic upgrading, Courtepatte made his way into the Bachelor of Science program, majoring in computer science and minoring in business. A longtime entrepreneur, he dove into building his own companies while at MacEwan, founding Agile Industries, a cloud-based information technology solution provider. 

But during his time as a student, Courtepatte's family was growing, his daughter was getting older and his responsibilities were changing. 

“Pausing my studies was something I didn't want to do, but I had to make some decisions personally and financially,” he says. “And I was able to walk away from MacEwan with the knowledge and tools to build my business and scale it.” 

Today, Agile Industries is celebrating its eighth year (and an ASTech Award for Indigenous-Led Entrepreneurship and Contributions to Knowledge), and Courtepatte is running two additional companies – Two Suns Media, part of the Cree Language Revitalization Project, and Card Clear, an Indigenous-led financial technology company.

While Courtepatte may have stepped away from MacEwan as a student, he says he never really left. 

“Many people think getting into entrepreneurship means you have to do it all by yourself, but MacEwan taught me that you don’t have to. I still reach out to my professors and ask questions years later, and they still engage with me and congratulate me. It's no longer a school to me; it's a community.”

And when Courtepatte is ready, he knows he'll be welcomed back to MacEwan as a student with open arms. “I plan on coming back and I know that I will still have that feeling of belonging and that I can finish the last year of my studies very successfully.” 

Regardless of which path students take – slower, faster or even over many years – Ravagnolo hopes they always feel like MacEwan's advising staff are in their corner. 

“We aren't always able to tell students what they want to hear, but we do genuinely care about them – the human piece of our work is really key,” she says. “We teach students about university policies, rules and guidelines, and sometimes we push them a little bit, but ultimately, we're their cheerleaders, and we want them to be successful.”