Three-year bachelor’s degree could become standard if accreditors allow it

Last week, Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Rhode Island announced launch of the country’s first full-time three-year bachelor’s degree programs. Although other institutions already offer three-year bachelor’s degrees, these programs either exclusively online or 120 credit hours required. JWU students will be able to earn degrees in computer science, criminal justice, graphic design and hotel management in 90-96 credit hours.

The launch of the JWU program follows a recent wave of support for similar initiatives across the country. In March, the Utah State Board of Higher Education authorized public colleges are exploring the possibility of creating three-year bachelor’s degrees. That same month, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed legislation requiring each of the state’s public four-year colleges to review its undergraduate programs to determine whether they can be completed in three years.

However, despite the growing momentum, whether three-year degrees become more ubiquitous will depend on accreditors.

The New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE), JWU’s accreditor, approved the program in September. Similar programs at Merrimack College and New England College were approved by NECHE in March but have not yet launched, according to NECHE. Boston Globe.

College accreditors have historically been wary of approving three-year programs. Before the three-year degree program was approved, New England College had its offer rejected NECHE, which did not consider that programs of study lasting less than 120 hours offered equivalent value to a four-year degree, according to Inside Higher Education.

Critics of three-year degrees have expressed concern that these programs will reduce interest in humanities courses that may have personal value to students and teachers, but have little benefit in the job market. This was said by Kenneth Mash, president of the Association of Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. Stateline that he has a “visceral disdain for the idea” because of its potential to create a two-tier system in which only wealthy students are privileged to receive a comprehensive four-year education.

Robert Zemsky, professor at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder College-3a group of colleges and universities promoting three-year degree programs, one of the leading voices three-year gradual movement. He claims these programs can reduce the cost of attendance by 25 percent while increasing student completion and retention rates.

Regarding criticism, Masha Zemsky says: Cause that much of this comes from teachers’ unions who fear that “a three-year degree will reduce the number of teachers” and harm their livelihoods.

“In a way, they’re right,” Zemsky said, “but we’ve now reached a point where college is becoming too expensive and you have to start deciding what’s really important now. When you really look at most college curricula, the courses offered are not the courses that students need, but the ones that professors want to teach. If we move away from that and create student-centered curricula, the learning will be better, the retention will be better, and the cost will be lower. “

Zemsky acknowledges that while he believes that three-year degrees have the potential to promote successful completion and increase student retention rates, there is limited empirical evidence to support these claims. Thanks to a recently awarded grant, College-in-3 will soon begin exploring ways to test these claims, testing them at more than 50 participating institutions that are in various stages of research and development of three-year degree plans, he says. Cause.

Education leaders Zemsky spoke with called the three-year degree “liberating.” Currently, College 3 may only have about 50 members, but Zemsky hopes that number will likely grow to at least 100 next year and 500 in the next three years.

Given the sky-high cost of tuition at many colleges and universities, three-year degrees have become even more attractive to cost-conscious students. Whether future students will have the opportunity to attend a three-year program now depends both on accreditors and on initiatives seeking to provide more opportunities for students.