one University of Virginia student figured out a way to save himself from the crush of student-loan debt.

Date published: 9/19/2006

By AARON KESSLER
The Daily Progress

CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP) - With college tuition rising to record levels across the country, one University of Virginia student figured out a way to save himself from the crush of student-loan debt.

The solution? He finished college in just one year.

David Banh, of Annandale, is the first person ever to complete U.Va.'s traditional four-year bachelor's program in a single year.

"I was impressed _ I would say amazed," said Donald Ramirez, vice chairman of the mathematics department.

Banh, who turns 19 later this month, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria in 2005. A year and a summer later, he was a U.Va. alumnus.

Thanks to a mountain of advanced placement credits, Banh was already ahead of the game.

"I flirted with the idea back in high school, and thought I could finish college in a year and a half, in three semesters," Banh said. "But after my first semester (at U.Va.), I realized I had all this extra time, and that if I stayed for a second year I didn't have a way to pay for it without taking out loans."

So he went for it _ taking 11 classes in the spring of 2006 to complete his bachelor's in mathematics.

"It was amazing more of the classes didn't overlap," he said. "Only two of them did, where they were both scheduled for the same time."

One of the subjects dealt with an area Banh was already familiar with from high school, so he was able to pull it off, and passed both classes. At the end of the 2006 term, Banh had completed his degree in math, but realized he was only three credits short of double majoring in physics.

"I really wanted the physics," he said. So he took one final class over the summer and graduated in August with a double major.

Now he's gone on to the graduate program at U.Va., and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics.

Banh said he was already halfway to his degree before stepping foot on campus. He had a whopping 72 credits from advanced placement exams in high school.

"I basically took the entire gamut of AP credits," he said. "I just took everything I could."

Date published: 9/19/2006