This study attempts to examine factors affecting the graduation speed for female students
attending four-year colleges in Korea. Toward this end, we examine the effects of student
characteristics on the speed toward degree completion among female students with Cox
proportional hazard model using first-eighth wave data from the Korean Education and
Employment Panel(KEEP). The results show that students’ parental education, plan to go to
graduate school, major, GPA(grade point average), and employment prospects taken into account
as the criteria for choosing a college to attend exert impact on their speed toward graduation.
Specifically, those students with higher parental education tend to complete their studies faster
than their counterparts with lower parental education, whereas those who plan to go to graduate
school graduate slower than those who don’t. Also, education majors and arts and physical
education majors graduate faster than their humanities major peers. In addition, ceteris paribus,
those who had taken into account employment prospects upon graduating from college when
they chose a college to attend exhibit a faster speed of graduation than that of those who had
not. Finally, higher GPA among female students may help them finish a degree quicker.
However, the presence of sibling attending college, college satisfaction, and language training
abroad have little to do with students’ speed toward degree completion. Based on these results,
we briefly discuss policy measures which could boost “on-time” degree completion and make
entry into labor market easier.