Survey says: Most "full time" students aren't.

[ladylearner]

I am definitely not shocked to hear that it's more than 4 years.

One of the things that happened here in CA was that the CSU system became impacted. Which meant that many students, especially freshman & sophomores, couldn't get the classes they needed to graduate in 4 years (assuming that they wanted to take 15cr). The classes were just full all the time. Although it took a while for them to catch up, CSU started accepting CLEP, then later started accepting DSST. Again, it was a long time problem and they only in the last few years came up with a CSU system-wide acceptance policy, but at least they came up with it. Each college can choose to take the recommendations or not, but I think almost every CSU school takes some of the CLEP/DSST exams.

I'm not shocked either. The City University of New York (CUNY) system boasts in its subway ad that the majority (I forgot the statistic but will post the next time I see the ad or if I find the info online) graduate without student debt. But the ad doesn't mention just how long it takes to get a degree in the system. With the exception of those enrolled in highly specialized programs like the pre-med program at City College, it just isn't feasible. That's largely because it's a great, affordable education but with a ton of students. And those students with a lower number of credits under their belts often have to wait around to get the prerequisites and other requirements they need. CUNY schools are often known to be stingy with transfer credit from schools outside their own university system. I think traditional college students need to be more aware of alternative means for getting college credits. They might be able to use their time toward accumulating credits and be in a better position to fulfill their prerequisites and other requirements. There is one program that allows students to take classes at any of the CUNY colleges and use nontraditional credits but this doesn't seem to be widely advertised.

This is just what I've seen and experienced here. I suspect there might be similar occurrences in other parts of the country.