As an employer, I'd be worried about whether such an applicant would manage to stick to deadlines. 11 years for something that should only take three? A year or so can be lost due to unforeseen circumstances, (getting pregnant, or being ill, or having serious financial trouble...), you can also drop out, go and do something else then come back, but the something else should also feature on your CV unless you want the potential employer to think you might have been in prison or Syria.

First of all, college is advertised as 4 years, not 3. Second, it is very well-known that 4 year colleges don’t in fact take 4 years or less unless you do AP testing in high school and full time for summer semesters. Third of all, there are situations that could cause someone to go 11 years in college. If someone they were close to was diagnosed with ALS (which can have a 2-5 year diagnosis), they could have put their education on pause to take care of them. And they wouldn’t necessarily have to drop out completely at first either, just drop down to part-time, which also extends how long you’re in school. It’s entirely possible for someone to have been “in college” for 11 years and it not be because they weren’t good at time management.

3 or 4, not that much difference. They've still taken three times as long as necessary. If they've been doing something else as well as study, such as work or take care of a relative, they should leverage it somehow on their CV. I don't know of anybody who has taken more than the required time to get through uni. From what I've read I understand that it's even easier in north America than in Europe - because they can't afford to fail high-paying students. So the bit about studying all through the summer I find hard to believe.

Then you are a terrible employer. Just because it took him longer to get the degree doesn't make him unqualified for the job.

It’s a 3 year program. It took them almost 4 times as long than normal. That’s not efficient at all.

Bachelors is a 4 year degree in the US. It may have taken him awhile because he couldn’t afford to pay for it all at once or life issues cropped up. Not everyone who goes to college wants to take on $30k of debt with student loans so they work and take classes as they can afford them.

And I know many people who can only take a few credits at a time. Due to them working. So the extra time is irrelevant.

If it's financial trouble, sure, you go off and earn some money then come back to finish your studies. And the work you did should be on your CV if only to prove that you didn't rob a bank to pay for your tuition then pay that crime of in prison for five years.

Sure, you can have financial trouble. Then you go off and work to save up some money to complete your degree. That work goes on your CV, even if irrelevant to your line of work. You have to prove that you didn't rob a bank (and end up in prison) to pay for your tuition.

If you only do a few credits at a time because of working, that work should be on your CV.

No one said it wasn’t. But would an employer notice that they were too busy working to finish on time? Resumes don’t say that. They just say when you worked there and what you did, not how many hours a week you worked.

Every job application I’ve ever had asked the YEARS I attended school: start date to end date.

Depending on the job, some employers actually verify with the school when you graduated. Even if you do get hired if they every find out you lied on your resume that’s essentially guaranteed grounds for dismissal.