The problem is not the duration of a college degree, it’s the quality and the return on investment.
The College Fix reports:
Massachusetts colleges gain approval for three-year degrees as schools battle enrollment declineSuffolk University and Merrimack College in Massachusetts became the latest universities to gain approval for three-year bachelor’s degree programs after the Board of Higher Education gave the green light Friday.The colleges join more than 60 other institutions that have approved three-year degree pathways in recent years, according to The College Investor.California State University, the largest public school system in the U.S., likewise voted in May to approve three-year degree programs, including a Bachelor of Professional Studies, Bachelor of Applied Studies, and Bachelor of Education. Its 22 campuses will decide whether to implement the programs.The University of North Carolina also recently approved a pilot program for expedited degrees designed by its campuses. Seven of the university’s 16 institutions drafted proposals, which could be launched as early as fall 2027, according to the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.Additionally, Virginia and Ohio are partnering on an initiative called “Scaling College in 3” to develop expedited bachelor’s degree blueprints that require only 90 credits, according to Higher Ed Dive.President Joe Ross of Reach University, an institution that offers apprenticeship-based degrees, told The College Fix that “speedrun” programs raise fundamental questions about the purpose and value of higher education.“They beg the question, what is higher education and what makes higher education higher? At some point, training in six months or twelve months is just job training, which is fine. Some people just need a job and they just need training for that job,” he said.However, he believes that higher education is more than just job training.“It is the combination of what you learn, but also how you learn it and the relationships that play a role in that experience,” he said.Ross added that schools are hoping to attract students back to their institutions with their new 3-year degree programs as enrollment declines, noting that newer generations are unwilling to take on student debt.“There’s a whole generation that has listened to their parents complain about their student debt, and they’re about to go off to college, and they’re not really interested in taking on a lifetime of student debt,” he said.
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