Those are some...very different level break points. Any, uh, particular reason why you're really set on 4/8/8/4 as your progression numbers? Because I guarantee people will complain about them being "weird" and not "round" numbers like multiples of 5 or 10.
Personally, I'd fork out the "student" thing into an entirely separate progression: Novice status. Essentially, you get a radically trimmed-down starting point (possibly only having a single at-will or the like), and then you slooooooooowly build up to the level of a "proper" 1st level character with a Theme and Background. Treat it like 13A's Incremental Advance system, except you're getting things like class features, heavier armor, more HP, your first daily, your first feat, etc.
That way, it's an opt-in system for people who want it, not an opt-out system that will confuse and frustrate at least some new players and DMs (as I have seen 5e's "well you SHOULD start at level 3+ unless you WANT a challenge" do.) And it would let us give that "zero to hero" style breathing room, rather than forcing it to be squeezed into a handful of levels. Hell, by applying the same concept, you could spool out every single level all the way to 30, allowing people to elect to only advance incrementally and in very measured, methodical pacing.