In 2011, in the aftermath of the great recession, Phil T. Neisser was looking for a way to decrease the cost of a college education. Then associate dean of arts and sciences at the State University of New York at Potsdam, he’d heard students, parents, and administrators complain that it takes too long for many students to graduate. So, thought Neisser, who is now coordinator of professional development, why not build a program that gets students in and out faster, saving time and money?
Under his watch, the School of Arts and Sciences built a number of three-year bachelor’s tracks that would let ambitious students jump in and take 18 credit hours a semester. They’d have perks, including priority registration and a special adviser to help manage the workload.
Colleges are increasingly offering three-year B.A.s and other accelerated programs in response to a growing market of money-conscious go-getters and career changers.
But the program was not widely marketed, and, in seven years, not a single student at Potsdam, a public university with nearly 3,500 undergraduates, has taken advantage of the official three-year track. Neisser says that Potsdam administrators will consider the role of the program and how to advertise it but that nothing specific is planned.
Compare that with Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind., which has aggressively marketed its “Degree in 3" program introduced last year. Purdue, widely known for its STEM programs, has used the option to try to attract a wider range of students, especially since the College of Liberal Arts has seen enrollment decrease from about 4,300 in 2011 to 2,500 now.
One student taking advantage of the opportunity is J.D. Arland, a first-year communications major in the Brian Lamb School of Communication who is set to graduate in May 2020.
Arland says he first became aware of the program because the university sent him packets about it when he was applying for college. A native Hoosier, he also remembers seeing Degree in 3 ads in Boilermaker gold on the football stadium Jumbotron when he visited the campus.
After that, the decision was easy. He’s a legacy and more than a dozen members of his family are Purdue alumni. Plus, he didn’t find any other accelerated degree tracks that looked as good.
Purdue’s president, Mitch Daniels, sparked the effort when he challenged different departments to build a three-year track, says Josh Boyd, director of undergraduate studies for the Lamb School. Boyd says he had already been speaking to his colleagues about designing a three-year track for students who had not necessarily accrued college credits through Advanced Placement or similar work.
He says he knew from the start that the program would not be a good fit for everyone. It would serve students who knew what they wanted to do right out of high school and those who could handle the challenge of completing their 120 credits in eight semesters, including summers.
Boyd and the Lamb School won the president’s challenge and used the $500,000 winnings to advertise the program and recruit students. “We upped our game,” he says. Faculty called admitted students who had already expressed interest in the Lamb School but may not have known about Degree in 3. They also created direct mailings, like the ones Arland got, and earmarked some scholarships to help students pay for summer expenses.
“This year, for example, we actually only had three students apply, go figure, and so all of them got $2,000 scholarships for the summer,” he says. In total, there are about 32 students at Purdue doing the three-year track in one liberal-arts college or another, and about half, like Arland, are in communications.
Part of the appeal of three-year programs is savings. At Purdue, Boyd estimates that a student from outside the state or out of the country could save nearly $20,000. Even with lower tuition for Indiana residents, the savings are around $9,000, he says.
But for years, students have cobbled together informal three-year degrees without special advisers or advertising campaigns. So what is the point of selling an official accelerated degree?
For starters, it’s a ready-made, visible option that might catch the eye of a student’s family, says Kalman A. Chany, founder and president of Campus Consultants, a financial-aid advising company in New York. Especially for households with multiple young adults set to graduate around the same time, he says, a program like this speaks to parents and their checkbooks.
Bryan D. Caplan, a professor of economics at George Mason University, agrees.
“As long as the university doesn’t mess up the reputation of the brand, then I think it’s going to be a very good deal for students who are willing to work harder,” says Caplan, an outspoken skeptic of the value of traditional four-year college educations. “If you can figure out a way to get people over that finish line earlier, then you’re golden.”
Part of the appeal of three-year programs is savings. At Purdue, a student from outside the state or out of the country could save nearly $20,000.
But money is not the only reason that a student might be attracted to accelerated learning opportunities. Anna L. Diatlovich, a second-year law and society major, says she chose Purdue because she had both Advanced Placement credits and Advanced College Project credits from high school, so she doesn’t have to take summer courses to stay on the three-year schedule. She learned about Degree in 3 after she had planned out her course track by herself using MyPurduePlan, an online course-scheduling system, as a first-year student last year. Since she came to Purdue before Degree in 3 was advertised, she didn’t switch into the program until an adviser notified her about it.
“It is a little overwhelming,” she says. “But I feel like it’s a good opportunity to get into the workplace faster. I’ve also heard of people who may do Degree in 3 to take a gap year after graduation before they start their jobs.”
Some students with clear career interests want to finish their bachelor’s quickly because they want to move on as soon as possible to the next phase of their educations. American University, Drexel University, Georgia State University, Hartwick College, Idaho State University, Kent State University, Seton Hill University, and the University of Southern California are among institutions eager to provide such options.
Georgia State, through its Honors College, has a six-year track that combines a bachelor’s and a law degree, say Wendy F. Hensel and Larry Berman, deans of the College of Law and the Honors College, respectively. There are two students on that track: Mariam M. Slaibi and KayLynne E. Kratzer.
Slaibi is officially a fourth-year student because of her financial-aid package, but for all intents and purposes she’s a first-year law student with the course schedule to prove it. The program appealed to her because she wanted to stay in Atlanta and work in public affairs. “Me? In corporate law? No way,” she says.
Like Slaibi, Kratzer says she’s been able to use the accelerated degree track as a talking point with prospective employers, who she says are often impressed by the program. Kratzer has even accelerated her accelerated schedule — she plans to finish in five years.
Idaho State and Kent State have accelerated tracks leading to a bachelor’s in nursing that are especially popular for career-switchers. Those who already have a bachelor’s in another subject can complete the nursing B.A. in 15 to 18 months.
Anthony Jackson, who graduated with a degree in business administration from Cleveland State University in 2001, played professional basketball for years in France, Mexico, and in the National Basketball Association’s developmental league, now called the G League. When he came back to the States, he finished the Kent State accelerated nursing program in 2013.
Jackson says his interest in nursing increased after the deaths of two siblings. His 16-year-old brother was shot in the chest. And his sister had a blood-clot condition and died at 26. In both situations, Jackson says, he saw a lack of urgency by health-care officials when his siblings arrived at the emergency room. He says he would “never let that happen” on his watch, and the experiences fueled his desire to be an empathetic and effective nurse.
Jackson is now looking to get his M.B.A., become a nurse practitioner, teach in higher education, and then climb the ranks of hospital administration. As much as he loved basketball, he says, his current career path is “a lot more fulfilling.”
Students so far who have taken on the three years are very organized and assertive. They’re doing what they want to do.
Alexandra Bryan, who will graduate from Kent State’s accelerated nursing program this May, had spent time at Ohio State University for prepharmacy and at the University of Akron for exercise science. The accelerated degree track suits her because she will be completing the program in about 15 months, and as a mother she didn’t want to spend more time in college than necessary. She’s always been interested in health, but after dealing with a high-risk pregnancy with her twins, she was inspired to study nursing because she saw the impact her nurses had on her.
Chin Kim, at Idaho State, studied art and was a substitute teacher. He discovered the nursing program through word of mouth. He qualified because he had a previous bachelor’s degree, and it’s given him a new opportunity that he hadn’t considered before.
Colleges are eager to satisfy this cost-conscious, impatient, and career-minded market. David A. Reingold, dean of Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts, says he has an unofficial goal of increasing enrollment for Degree in 3 to around 10 percent.
“Eighty-six percent of students who started in the fall are in a major that has a three-year option,” he says. “It doesn’t mean 86 percent are going to do it, but it’s at least an option.” Students will have access to their four-year financial-aid packages for the three-year plans, he says, “so nobody leaves any money on the table.”
Josh Boyd, the communication-school director, says some students still have expressed apprehensions. “The main concern I’ve heard is that, ‘You know, college is about more than classes, and if you speed it up it might make it more difficult to study abroad, to do internships, to be a part of student organizations.’ I understand that argument,” he says.
“At the same time, I have not witnessed those kinds of problems in our three-year students. This is not surprising, but the students so far who have taken on the three years are very organized and assertive. They’re doing what they want to do.”
He cites Gabby Gary, a mass-communication major doing the three-year program at the Lamb School. In addition to being a full-time student, she owns and runs an upscale clothing boutique, with two brick-and-mortar locations and 10 employees.
Gary, who is set to graduate this May, came to Purdue with a semester’s worth of Advanced Placement credits. Knowing that her mother graduated in three years from Tulane University, she inquired and found out about Degree in 3.
Gary currently splits her time between coursework, the Dawson & Daisy Boutique, and as a student manager for the men’s basketball team, for which her father, Greg Gary, is an assistant coach. Also, she says, her mother owns a law firm, “so I think that was inspiring to me because she was able to have five kids and also be an incredible businesswoman.”
After graduation, Gary will potentially open up a new store or focus more on the online shop. Although she’s happy that her liberal-arts courses have helped her better market her company and advertise on social media, she’s excited for her next chapter.
“Did I choose the three-year degree because of the boutique? No. But has it worked out wonderfully? Yes,” Gary says. “The boutique is getting to the point where it’s getting bigger and I need to be there more.”
