The university I currently teach at has per-credit tuition and fees, unlike the other two places I've taught or my ugrad and grad institutions. At first, it st

The university I currently teach at has per-credit tuition and fees, unlike the other two places I've taught or my ugrad and grad institutions. At first, it struck me as gougy and a way to nickel-and-dime the students; but I've since come around and realised that it's actually a lot more equitable in many ways, and it certainly grants students the flexibility to plan the path that works best for them. If you decide to spread out your classes and take a ninth (or tenth) semester to finish, the only added cost is room and board (which you'll be paying anyway, in some sense) and the opportunity cost of lost work. If it's important to you to finish in three years, that's doable, but all you save is room and board (and you get to start working earlier), but you're not going to feel the huge pressure of $60K pushing you to rush through and overload. Interestingly, when they made the change about ten years ago, they didn't foresee the rise of students who would intentionally average 12 instead of 15 credits per term (which puts them at a 5 year graduation instead of 4), so there was some alarm that students are taking "too long". But, I think that's a good rational choice for at least some of them, and as I said, it gives them the flexibility to make college work for them.