Wichita ? For most Kansas college students, the road to a degree takes longer than four years. That means drawn-out expenses — and more debt — for students and parents. It means lower rankings for Kansas schools in annual publications such as U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.”

For many, it means scholarships dwindle, tuition rises and careers — with the paychecks required to pay back those student loans — are delayed.

In fact, in Kansas and across the country, institutions known as “four-year colleges” often are not that at all.

“The reality is, fewer and fewer people can do it in four years,” said Keith Pickus, interim provost at Wichita State University. “It’s atypical to finish in four.”

Last year the Kansas Board of Regents set a goal to increase the freshman retention rate and graduation rate at public universities. It also approved reducing graduation requirements in Kansas from 124 to 120 hours.

Kansas University also plans to update — and likely reduce — its general education requirements, the slate of courses students must complete outside their majors.

One in five students who are ready to graduate and have met the requirements of their majors discover that they haven’t completed one or more general-education requirements, Jack Martin, director of strategic communications at KU, said.

“Those students end up having to go back for that class or two — or they don’t (go back), and many don’t get a degree,” he said.

According to the university’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning, less than a third of the 2005 freshmen class graduated in 2009 — and that’s not counting the 20 percent who leave after their first year.

The KU average is above the 28 percent four-year graduation rate for U.S. public universities but below the national average of 36 percent for all four-year institutions, according to the Higher Educational Institute.

Some states are implementing initiatives aimed at keeping college students on a four-year path by discouraging them from taking extra time and extra courses.

In Kansas, the focus has been on urging students to take the required course load — at least 16 hours per semester — and to get help early to avoid dropping or failing classes.

At WSU, which has a high percentage of nontraditional, working students, the regents’ directive to get students to finish college faster is more challenging. Only about 15 percent of WSU students graduate in four years; only 40 percent graduate in six.

Nonetheless, several retention and graduation initiatives are under way there as well, including a new course called “WSU 101.” The three-credit-hour course, which teaches study skills and time management, is designed to ease students’ transition to college, and it counts toward graduation.

A new “early alert system” at WSU allows faculty to identify students who are struggling in their first three to four weeks of school, either by performing poorly on work or not showing up, said Pickus, the interim provost. A notice is sent to an academic support official, who contacts the student, he said.

Kansas State University recently updated and streamlined its general-education requirements into the “K-State 8” — eight general areas of study aimed at getting students to explore disciplines outside their majors.

Students could meet the “aesthetic experience and interpretive understanding” requirement by taking “History of Rock and Roll,” ”Fiction Into Film” or “Horticultural Design.” They could meet the “natural and physical sciences” requirement by completing a course in oceanography, basic nutrition or crop science.