A small number of colleges is experimenting with three-year baccalaureate programs as an alternative to traditional four-year degrees amid rising tuition and declining enrollment.

The proposals — which would reduce coursework requirements and offer year-round classes without summer breaks — have gained steam at state university branch campuses and some liberal arts schools. They have seen declining applications and rising costs since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered campuses in March 2020.

About two dozen academics from several institutions met late last month at Georgetown University, a private Catholic school in the nation’s capital, to discuss how the three-year option could stabilize dropout rates and reduce mounting student loan debt that have made their programs less attractive to applicants.

In addition to Georgetown, 10 institutions are in various stages of three-year pilot programs: the American Public University System, a for-profit, online system based in West Virginia; Brigham Young University-Idaho; Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Merrimack College; New England College; Northwood University; the University of Minnesota Morris; the University of Minnesota Rochester; the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; and Utica University.

“We can’t say that the standard-length U.S. model of four years is working for everyone right now,” UNM Rochester Chancellor Lori Carrell, who co-led the meeting, told The Washington Times. “Currently, more than 25% of those who start college do not finish within four years, and of course, many do not finish at all.”

Ms. Carrell is co-lead of UNM Rochester’s “College-in-3 Experiment.” She noted that first-generation college students, Pell Grant recipients and underrepresented minority students make up the majority of college dropouts with student loan debt.

“The [three-year] coursework has the same rigor as the traditional four-year option of this degree,” she said of the pilot program. “What’s different is that a well-designed, lower cost degree will help more students succeed.”

Unlike accelerated programs that cram the standard 120 credit hours for a bachelor’s degree into three years, pilot schools have proposed slashing required coursework to between 90 and 100 credits. To do that in three years, the schools delete swaths of elective and core requirements to focus more on the classes their students and potential employers deem essential.

A 12th school that attended the Georgetown meeting, Portland State University, ended an accelerated degree pilot program in November. University spokesperson Christina Williams said in an email that a three-year degree option “is not an academic fit for Portland State at this time.”

The idea is not for everyone, said Robert Zemsky, a University of Pennsylvania historian who helped lead the Georgetown meeting. A longtime advocate of three-year degrees, he is the co-author with Ms. Carrell of the upcoming book “College in 3: An Overdue Conversation about Reducing Cost and Improving Quality.”

“A principal lesson Lori Carrell and I have learned from our ‘College-in-3’ pilots is that only institutions that are financially strong with solid academic reputations are likely to have three-year degree programs that succeed,” Mr. Zemsky said in an email.

Peter Wood, president of the conservative National Association of Scholars, said economizing academic programs to focus more on employment creates a different experience for three-year students.

“What will be sacrificed is breadth of knowledge, the cultivation of new interests, and those moments that often come in the fourth year of study in which the student suddenly sees how it all fits together,” said Mr. Wood, a former associate provost at Boston University.

Pilot programs

The pilot programs have taken different approaches to economizing.

Officials at Merrimack College, a private Catholic school in Massachusetts, introduced the idea of a three-year degree after COVID shutdowns hurt their enrollment and finances. Both Merrimack and BYU Idaho, a private Latter-day Saints school, have developed proposals that await the approval of their accrediting agencies.

Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota Morris is in the “discovery phase” of a degree option that would allow students to complete any of the school’s 34 liberal arts and sciences majors in three years.

The public school already counts high school classes for more than a semester of college credits. Among this year’s freshmen, 63% started last fall with an average of 21 college credits already completed, said UNM Morris Acting Chancellor Janet Schrunk Ericksen.

“The goal is to more clearly match the concerns and interests of current high school students, who are highly debt- and cost-conscious and who have a sea of college choices,” Ms. Ericksen told The Times.

Administrators at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, one of 10 schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, decided to explore a three-year program due to faculty retiring and losing their jobs in financial cuts. They say their proposal could save students 25% of degree expenses.

“Students pursuing a three-year degree would save a year of tuition, fees, books, housing, dining and other costs while having the same breaks, holidays, and NCAA athletic opportunities as four-year students,” said Kevin Hensil, a spokesman for the system’s chancellor. “Employers could gain a more efficient pipeline of highly qualified talent to fill jobs with worker shortages.”

At Northwood University, a private business school in Midland, Michigan, Provost and Academic Vice President Kristin Stehouwer said three-year degree options will “complement … more traditional 120-credit hour bachelor degrees.”

“The colleges and universities in the pilot share a sense of purpose and a resounding consensus that this is the right thing to do for certain students,” Ms. Stehouwer said. “In essence, the three-year degree will reduce the barriers of time, money and opportunity costs.”

Others say the jury is still out.

“I’m glad that colleges are experimenting with three-year degrees, which promise to enhance access to higher education,” said Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor in the history of education at the University of Pennsylvania. “But the question we should be asking is, access to what? I hope this innovation spurs us to think more carefully about what students are getting out of college.”

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.