Higher education is at an inflection point. Students are questioning whether the traditional four-year degree is a necessary path to a successful career.
Calls for universities and colleges to offer three-year bachelor’s degrees have grown steadily louder. Now institutions are answering those calls, and those that do not evolve and innovate risk becoming increasingly disconnected from both students and employers. Rather than defending the status quo, college and university leaders should treat accelerated bachelor’s degrees as an innovative offering that preserves academic rigor, aligns with workforce needs and improves access and affordability.
While some current political debate casts doubt about the value of higher education, research consistently shows that a bachelor’s degree remains one of the strongest predictors of long-term economic mobility. Bachelor’s degree holders earn a median of $32,000 more each year than high school graduates, amounting to roughly $625,000 in additional lifetime earnings.
Those figures even account for time spent out of the workforce during college. During economic downturns, unemployment rates for high school graduates are roughly double what they are for college graduates, and degree holders are more likely to have health insurance, retirement savings, stronger health outcomes and higher levels of civic engagement.
While the long-term benefits are clear, the traditional path to obtaining the degree has come under increasing scrutiny. Over the last 30 years, the average tuition for both public and private four-year colleges has essentially doubled after adjusting for inflation. As tuition and fees have risen, institutions face tough questions about time to completion and return on investment. For many Americans, particularly working adults balancing careers and families, the traditional four-year, 120-credit (or 180 quarter-credit) model can feel financially and logistically out of reach.
This matters because a narrow majority of Americans (54%) ages 25 to 34 do not hold a four-year degree. Millions of them have some college credit they either earned by starting college or taking college-level courses while in high school. What many discover after entering the workforce without a college degree is limited opportunities for advancement. For a working parent with 60 completed credits, the chance to finish their degree a year or two faster than a traditional degree could be the key incentive in returning to school.
Accelerated and reduced-credit bachelor’s programs do not lower standards. Accreditors have made clear that learning outcomes must remain rigorous and measurable. What these programs do is streamline requirements and provide coursework directly aligned with workforce needs. These programs reward those who have earned some college credit by offering a more efficient way to complete their bachelor’s degree and advance in their career.
Adoption has been slow. Of the roughly 4,000 degree-granting institutions in the country, only about 60 offer or are in the process of developing reduced-credit bachelor’s programs. The , which will launch this fall, requires 25% fewer credit hours than the traditional four-year degree and is fully online.
The goal is to increase access and provide more options. While the Higher Learning Commission approved DU’s request to be the first institution in Colorado to offer such a program, state oversight that public institutions face is preventing them from doing the same. Other states are making progress in this area. Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education voted to consider proposals from colleges and universities seeking to establish programs that would require fewer than the traditional number of credits.
These programs will never replace the four-year college experience. The knowledge, experience, and relationships that students gain all while living away from home for the first time is truly transformative. This experience is for a student at a different time in their life and career. The accelerated degree program solves a problem for the early-to-mid-career individual who may experience limitations around time and money because of where they are in their lives.
We must look for new ways to achieve the desired learning outcomes that students are looking for and develop a workforce that serves our communities and strengthens our economy. Higher education has always evolved in response to social and economic change, and these bachelor’s programs may be the next stage in that evolution. Institutions that embrace this model may help ensure the sectors’ relevance in the decades ahead.
Jeremy Haefner is the 19th chancellor at the University of Denver. Bobbie Kite is the dean of the College of Professional Studies at the University of Denver.
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