More Colleges Are Offering Three-Year Degrees — But There Are Risks to Know

Giles Sims, a 34-year-old web developer, lost his job and kept getting passed over because he didn't have a college degree. He has a wife and a widowed mother to support, so he needed a fast solution. He found one: a three-year college degree program that lets him finish school a full year sooner than most students.

Sims is a student at Ensign College, a private school in Salt Lake City, Utah. The school recently changed all of its bachelor's degree programs so students can graduate faster. "I can't afford to be out of the workforce for four years. That just seems like forever, and the three-year made it seem less daunting," he said.

These shorter degree programs have been growing quickly across the country. As of this spring, 26 U.S. states have at least one college offering a three-year bachelor's degree, according to a nonprofit research group called RAND. In total, 119 of these reduced-credit programs have been publicly announced.

A standard bachelor's degree usually requires 120 credit hours of classes. Three-year programs cut that down to as few as 90 credit hours. That means students take fewer classes overall, often by reducing elective courses — classes students choose for themselves outside of their main subject.

Supporters say these programs help students who can't afford four full years of college. They also argue the programs are a lifeline for students like Sims, who are older or returning to school after time away. Tuition at public colleges averaged about $11,950 per year for in-state students last school year, and about $45,000 at private nonprofit schools.

But not everyone thinks three-year degrees are a good idea. Critics worry that students may miss out on important learning by taking fewer classes. Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, put it bluntly: "This is not innovation. This is just cutting corners."

Three-year degree programs are already common in several other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and India. However, they are new to most of the United States. For many decades, American colleges offered ways for students to finish early, but those programs still required the same total number of classes.

The idea of three-year degrees in the U.S. got attention in 2009, when researcher Robert Zemsky wrote about it in a major magazine. But the idea hit a roadblock — accreditors, the organizations that approve whether college programs meet quality standards, said no. Things changed in 2022, when Zemsky helped start a network called the College-in-3 Exchange, and in 2023, accreditors began approving reduced-credit programs for the first time.

Most three-year programs today are offered by private nonprofit schools, often online. Business degrees in marketing and management are the most common. Degrees in subjects like engineering are harder to shorten, and researchers found only six three-year programs in teacher education.

One student in a teaching program is Jill Cohen, 42, who lives on a ranch in Yoder, Colorado. She left her job selling life insurance after a farming accident nearly killed her, and turned to teaching. She is already in a middle school classroom teaching English, while finishing her degree through Indiana Wesleyan University's special program created to help schools fill staff shortages.

Still, programs that lead to state licenses — like teaching — are a major concern for researchers. Each state has its own rules about what training is required to get a license to work. Students in three-year programs need to check carefully that their degree meets the requirements of the state where they plan to work.

Gabriella Staten, 20, is studying digital marketing at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee and says her three-year program will save her at least $20,000. She sometimes wonders if employers will take her degree as seriously as a four-year degree, but she's decided to prove herself through her work. "Even if they were to look a little bit down on the three-year pathway, I can show them otherwise with the work," she said.

Wesley Hardy, 22, is studying accounting at Ensign College and sees both the good and bad sides of a three-year degree. He likes that he'll enter the workforce faster, but worries about meeting the credit hour requirements to become a certified public accountant — a goal that may require extra classes or graduate school. "Would I have to take extra classes?" he asked. "It's definitely something I've thought of."