Athens, Ga. ? Hoping to embarrass slackers who take more than four years to get a degree, the University of Georgia will start referring to students by the number of years they have been enrolled and may take away parking and football-ticket privileges after their senior year.

The university will call students “first-years,” “second-years,” or even “seventh-years,” rather than freshmen, sophomores or seniors.

School officials said overcrowding is a major reason for the changes.

University of Georgia students take an average of 4.3 years to graduate, which is actually below the national average of 5.3 years. But too many students are taking up dorm and classroom space in the 33,000-student university, where tuition for state residents is $2,800 a year.

One problem is that Athens with its nightlife, mild weather and music scene may be a little too pleasant.

“Athens is a great place to live, and I think for some of our students it’s kind of a joke to stay,” said Hugh Ruppersburg, an associate dean who leads a committee charged with getting students out on time. “They want a fifth football season. They don’t want to leave their friends. And this is a very affordable education, so it’s not like it costs $40,000 a year to stay.”

Nineteen-year-old freshman Drew Perry said: “Kids just want to have fun and stay in Athens. They don’t want to grow up and get a job. I don’t either, but I still want to get out in four years. It really is crowded on the buses and the dining halls and all.”

Provost Karen Holbrook said a recent survey that found students average just 13 hours a week in class and six more hours studying.

“What are they doing with their time?” she asked. “Certainly many of them work and are involved in extracurricular activities. But we think with the caliber of our students, they can take a much heftier program and do very well at it.”

Under a proposal that still needs university approval before taking effect, those who spend more than four years in college would be put behind freshmen in line for coveted parking spaces and football tickets.

The most recent national figures from the U.S. Education Department show that college students are taking longer to complete degrees. About 30 percent of those who were college freshmen in 1993 took six years or longer to graduate, up from 25 percent in 1977.