Traditionally, it has taken four years to earn a college degree — but what is so important about that number? Lots of students actually hang around for five or six years. Why not allow students to earn their degrees in just three years?
That idea has been floating around for quite a while, and in today’s Martin Center article, Reagan Allen looks at several states where it is taking hold.
She writes:
A new study from the RAND Corporation identified 119 reduced-credit bachelor’s programs publicly announced across the country by May 2026, up from just five in 2024. That’s a huge difference, and I have to assume that rising tuition is at the forefront of that decision. States including Tennessee and Texas are now taking steps to make three-year degrees more widely available, testing whether a bachelor’s degree really needs to take a long four years.
If fewer credit hours are required, what is sacrificed? Mostly, Allen observes, general education requirements. In most instances, I would regard that as a minimal loss since general education has mostly given way to narrow, trendy courses of scant value.
Tennessee is among the states Allen surveys:
In July, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission approved a policy allowing colleges to develop focused bachelor’s degrees with as few as 90 credit hours. Lincoln Memorial University became the first university in the state to offer one, launching a 90-credit Bachelor of Science in Education this fall. The program cuts 32 credits from the university’s previous 122-credit degree while still meeting Tennessee’s teacher-licensure requirements.
Three-year college is a good, overdue move.