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Stay on TRACK drawing offers two plane tickets

August 25, 2015

Marmian Grimes

University of Alaska students can enter a drawing for two Alaska Airlines tickets by sharing photos in which they hold up fingers to show how many years they'll take to finish their degrees.

The fourth annual myTRACK drawing is part of UA's Stay on TRACK campaign. Entries will be accepted through Oct. 31. By participating in the myTRACK photo contest, UA students enter a drawing for two tickets on Alaska Airlines. Click here to find out how to enter!
myTRACK_UAF_2
To participate, a student posts a “selfie,” or self-portrait, to UA’s Facebook site indicating with his or her fingers how many years it will take to earn a degree.

UA’s annual Stay on TRACK campaign encourages students to graduate sooner and with less debt.

Stay on TRACK encourages students to:


  • Take 30 credits a year

  • Register early

  • Meet with their advisor and use DegreeWorks at UAOnline

  • Choose a major and stick with it

  • Keep up their grades


The Stay on TRACK website offers resources, such as checklists for freshman through senior years, of action items to help graduate in four years.

Federal financial aid only requires enrollment in 12 credits a semester to be considered full time, leading students to think 12 credits a semester is an acceptable full-time enrollment. Stay on TRACK seeks to shift the normal course load back to 15 credits a semester.

For many students, completing 15 credits a semester is not just desirable: it’s required.  For instance, the Alaska Performance Scholarship mandates enrollment in 15 credits per semester in a recipient's sophomore through senior years.

With credits costing $183 each or more, students should get all they can from every dollar spent. A study showed that students who attempted 15 or more credit hours had a higher credit-hour completion rate than those who attempted fewer than 15 credit hours. In the long term, students who attempt and earn at least 15 credit hours a semester perform significantly better than full-time students who take less than 15 credit hours a semester.

A student spends an extra $10,000 to graduate in five years instead of four, and the additional year in school displaces potential earnings.