Texas Embraces Idea of Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees to Cut College Costs
“The model could allow students to earn bachelor’s degrees with about 90 credit hours instead of the traditional 120”
This is a good idea, but nothing will change until we address the ridiculous cost of a degree.
Campus Reform reports:
Texas pushes three-year bachelor’s degrees to cut college costs
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing the state’s public universities toward three-year bachelor’s degree programs in an effort to reduce the cost and time required to earn a college degree.
In an Aug. 26 letter to Texas Higher Education Commissioner Wynn Rosser, Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to develop a statewide framework for accelerated bachelor’s degree pathways.
The model could allow students to earn bachelor’s degrees with about 90 credit hours instead of the traditional 120, potentially eliminating a year of tuition, fees, housing, food, transportation, and other expenses.
“Every additional semester spent earning a degree comes with added costs,” Abbott wrote, arguing that shorter programs could lower expenses while allowing graduates to enter the workforce sooner.
Abbott also said accelerated degrees could help Texas respond more quickly to employer demand in high-growth, high-wage fields.
The proposal reflects a broader debate over whether the traditional 120-credit, four-year bachelor’s degree requires students to spend too much time and money completing coursework outside their primary field of study.
Abbott’s proposal falls within a broader debate over whether the traditional four-year, 120-credit degree model is still necessary. Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Zachary Marschall recently addressed that question in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, arguing that colleges should offer 90-credit bachelor’s degrees that allow students to graduate in three years.
Marschall argued that the shorter model could reduce tuition costs while limiting time spent on unnecessary electives and other requirements. He also called for students to declare majors earlier and for universities to focus degree programs more heavily on academics and career preparation.
Marschall’s framework called for colleges to rethink the traditional four-year model by offering 90-credit bachelor’s degrees, reducing unnecessary elective and general-education requirements, and encouraging students to declare majors earlier.
He argued that a more streamlined structure could lower tuition costs, shorten the time students spend in college, and keep degree programs more focused on academic preparation and career outcomes.
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Comments
This may work in Texas.
However, this is a non-starter for USA states run by Commies.
Just imagine, firing 25% of teachers at a school.
The unions would have less money to pay its bribes.
Not to mention the nonsense courses no longer taught.
I can’t see it working well. A lot of students that graduated HS with greater than a 3.0 GPA end up taking remedial classes their first semester. I can’t see Nursing, Engineering, Computer Science/Security, or Accounting less than 8 full time, full load semesters. I know that some Engineering and Accounting programs are no longer BS programs but MS and take 5 years.
Back around 1970 when I was researching colleges there was one the had a 3 year bachelor program without cutting the number of hours. I simply required you to take a couple more hours each semester and load up during summer school too.
Of course that requires the faculty and staff to give up their long summer vacations!