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Much of the world has accelerated. But college seems to take forever.
Changes may now be made to long-standing practices that are slowing students down.
Some colleges, and the accrediting bodies and states that oversee them, are adding and approving three-year bachelor’s degrees that require fewer credits than traditional four-year degrees.
Institutions facing declining enrollment hope the new three-year degrees will attract students unwilling to spend the usual time and money needed to earn a degree. States need these graduates to fill jobs.
Nearly 60 universities and colleges are considering, considering, or have already launched three-year, reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees in certain disciplines. They call them “applied” or “career-oriented” bachelor’s degrees.
Related: Faster, leaner: Colleges are rapidly reducing the baccalaureate degree to three years
At least one school, Ensign College in Utah, announced it would turn all of its bachelor’s degrees into three-year programs requiring 90 credits instead of the usual 120 credits.
States like North Dakota and Massachusetts have approved this new approach, and Indiana and a few others have required or are considering requiring their public universities to add them.
Students are increasingly impatient with the time they must spend to earn a bachelor’s degree — and the cost that comes with it. More than half of students need more than four years to complete one, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Some are derailed by personal complications. But many colleges also slow them down by not teaching enough of the courses students are required to take, refusing to accept their transfer credits, refusing to recognize work experience, and withholding transcripts even for small unpaid bills.
Related: Students can’t take basic college courses, delaying their time in school
This means not only taking longer and paying more to earn a degree, but also waiting longer to start earning a full-time income.
More and more students took matters into their own hands. They collect credits in dual enrollment and Advanced Placement courses in high school and load their college schedule with more classes. More than 7 million of them take classes during the summer.
Although earning a bachelor’s degree with fewer credits may appeal to some students, the idea is so new that a key question remains unanswered: Will employers, graduate schools and licensing agencies accept them.
Related: Momentum is building behind a way to lower the cost of college: a three-year degree
In a survey, an institution that offers reduced-credit three-year degrees – Johnson & Wales University – found support from employers. But college admissions officials, in a separate survey by a consortium of colleges, said almost unanimously that they would not accept applicants with a bachelor’s degree of fewer than 120 credits.
There was, however, an important footnote: Admissions officers at these graduate schools said they would review this policy as more reduced-credit undergraduate degrees were introduced.
Contact writer Jon Marcus at 212-678-7556, jmarcus@hechingerreport.org Or jpm.82 on Signal.
This story on three-year bachelor’s degrees was produced byThe Hechinger reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Subscribe to ourhigher education newsletter.
The article Putting the University on the Fast Track appeared first on the Hechinger Report.
