Three-Year Bachelor's Degrees Could Become the Standard—If Accreditors Allow It

[Ares]

Three-Year Bachelor's Degrees Could Become the Standard—If Accreditors Allow It (Reason)

Last week, Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Rhode Island announced the launch of the nation's first in-person, three-year bachelor's degree programs. While other institutions already offer three-year bachelor's degrees, these programs are either exclusively online or require 120 credit hours. JWU students will be able to complete a degree in computer science, criminal justice, graphic design, and hospitality management within 90 to 96 credit hours. 

The launch of JWU's program follows a recent wave of support for similar initiatives across the country. In March, the Utah Board of Higher Education authorized state colleges to explore creating three-year bachelor's degrees. That same month, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a law requiring each of the state's public four-year colleges to review their bachelor's degree programs to determine whether they could be completed in three years. [...]

Critics of three-year degrees have raised concerns that these programs will reduce interest in liberal arts courses, which may have personal value for students and faculty but offer little use in the job market. Kenneth Mash, the President of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, told Stateline that he has "visceral disdain for the idea" because of the potential it has in creating a two-tiered system where only wealthy students have the privilege of receiving a well-rounded four-year education.

Nothing can be a bigger waste of time than taking most Liberal Arts courses, especially when it is not your choice but required (DEI, Diversity, etc..). With all this material for these courses free on the Internet I have no idea how anyone would be able to keep up with the "Rich"! 

[NotJoeBiden]

Three-Year Bachelor's Degrees Could Become the Standard—If Accreditors Allow It (Reason)

Last week, Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Rhode Island announced the launch of the nation's first in-person, three-year bachelor's degree programs. While other institutions already offer three-year bachelor's degrees, these programs are either exclusively online or require 120 credit hours. JWU students will be able to complete a degree in computer science, criminal justice, graphic design, and hospitality management within 90 to 96 credit hours. 

The launch of JWU's program follows a recent wave of support for similar initiatives across the country. In March, the Utah Board of Higher Education authorized state colleges to explore creating three-year bachelor's degrees. That same month, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a law requiring each of the state's public four-year colleges to review their bachelor's degree programs to determine whether they could be completed in three years. [...]

Critics of three-year degrees have raised concerns that these programs will reduce interest in liberal arts courses, which may have personal value for students and faculty but offer little use in the job market. Kenneth Mash, the President of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, told Stateline that he has "visceral disdain for the idea" because of the potential it has in creating a two-tiered system where only wealthy students have the privilege of receiving a well-rounded four-year education.

Nothing can be a bigger waste of time than taking most Liberal Arts courses, especially when it is not your choice but required (DEI, Diversity, etc..). With all this material for these courses free on the Internet I have no idea how anyone would be able to keep up with the "Rich"! 

I was never required to take classes on DEI or diversity as part of my liberal arts electives.

Do you know what these words even mean? Last time I saw your post you were claiming the free 100 million learners at Thunderbird was sexist DEI because they wanted to educate women.

Maybe we do need to these subjects…

[ss20ts]

I have taken MANY liberal arts courses and not a single course in diversity or DEI. Heck, I even have a bachelor's degree in liberal studies! In grad school, I opted to take a course called Sex Roles in Business and Society. It was not required nor is it a liberal arts course. There are many people on here and in the US who could benefit from this course. Stop trying to hold others back because it makes you feel better. I know many people dislike educated people, but you need to get over yourselves.

A 3 year bachelor's degree could be a great move to save $$$ and reduce time to complete a degree. Maybe it would help more students graduate as well. But I would be cautious about what courses to drop from these programs as many BS programs do not have a lot of electives, gen eds, or liberal arts, or whatever you want to call them. BAs tend to have more leeway with these types of courses. It would be a disadvantage to students to remove arts and language requirements as well. If anything we need more classes in certain areas such as math and science. And I say this as someone who was never a fan of math or science. Taking them in college was an entirely different experience than high school. As an adult, I have a much higher level understanding of them and how they apply to my day to day life - both at home and at work. I appreciate them more and see how much math and science I use daily without even realizing it.

[bjcheung77]

Hmm, I was thinking there... Wasn't this talked about previously? I mean, it's a good idea to streamline everything and have the younger students finish faster, but I still think it's a better idea to allow them to complete a better balanced mix and match of certs, degree, experience. This isn't just for business, IT, etc, it can be in Education, and more...

[spohara]

I'd argue that a well rounded education in the only reason to get a college degree. Just thinking of CS - what is the value of a degree? You get the underlying theory of CS a little more (in some programs) than a bootcamp perhaps, but your day 1 usefulness on the job would be higher from a bootcamp vs a college degree. But in your degree program, you also are required to string two sentences together (English comp), required to think critically about the world around you (social science), you're required to learn the scientific method, you have a foundation in mathematics that will translate to more difficult problems, you may take some business courses that give you a baseline understanding of that aspect of software development, and finally for the softer side of things, art and aesthetics, just go back and watch Steve Jobs commencement speech where he talks about his class on calligraphy that he took just because, and it inspired him to create better typefaces for Apple computers.

I'm 100% for the idea of a 3 year degree to make things more affordable for students with significant work experience. But I'm glad I took acting 101, chemistry, calc, project management, western lit, and many others because I've borrowed concepts from all of them to form my mental models on how the world works. I hope a 3 year degree would still require coursework in those areas that wouldn't be covered by the work experience.

[Duneranger]

Forced DEI/Diversity classes are woke garbage but I do find value in a well rounded education.

I went to a private liberal arts college for my first degree where we had to take comparative religions, philosophy, anthropology and history type classes. All useful imo.