Would you sacrifice part of the proverbial best four years of your life to cut costs?
Paying eight semesters’ worth of tuition, room and board, textbooks, and other fees can add up to tens of thousands of dollars—and that’s only if you finish college in four years. For about 60 percent of students, the college experience takes at least another semester before graduation.
[See which 10 schools have the highest graduation rates.]
But some schools offer or are planning to debut new, fast-track bachelor’s degree programs that only hit families’ wallets for three years.
In fall 2011, schools including Grace College and Seminary, Baldwin-Wallace College, Lesley University, and St. John’s University introduced three-year degree programs, according to a running list created by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). And the programs are increasingly being explored, both by prospective institutions and college-bound students and parents, says NAICU’s Director of Communications Tony Pals.
"The economic downturn has encouraged more students and families to consider the three-year option, and for academically well prepared and highly focused students, these programs can be very attractive," Pals says. "These programs can represent a significant cost savings for consumers."
In an effort to become more affordable, officials at Grace College originally toyed with discounting tuition, Provost William Katip says. But fearing that such a move may seem too "gimmicky," Katip says the school instead revamped the curriculum and calendar to accommodate three-year graduation plans for its 50 undergraduate majors. For three years, students take more, short courses during the fall and spring semesters, and any credits taken in the summer are free (save for a $125 technology fee). Based on the school's accounting, the plan can save students up to 50 percent on college, between costs they don't pay and salaries they could begin to earn a year early.
"Twenty-five percent is saving a whole year right up front," Katip figures. "The other 25 percent: Our annual tuition is very close to what our first-year graduates make. The fact is, you're out working and you've got one year of earnings." Students with financial need would also be spared a year of college loans, he adds.
Rather than entering the workforce a year early, other students in three-year degree programs may use the extra year to head to graduate school sooner. That's one potential avenue for students in the new three-year Global Scholars degree program American University started in fall 2011.
The 57 students in the university's inaugural Global Scholars program "may save a little bit" of money, but the real impetus behind the three-year program was to offer a new challenge to ambitious and driven students, says Lyn Stallings, interim vice provost for undergraduate studies at AU. The university plans to offer at least one more three-year degree program, focused on politics, policy, and law, in 2014, she says.
The thought of earning a college degree in three years initially terrified American University freshman Isabelle Rodas, but the combination of financial aid and an accelerated path to a future in international relations was too hard to turn down.
"There's so much that I want to do—I don't have time to be spending years and years in college," says Rodas, who hopes to complete a master's degree (area to be determined) in what would otherwise have been her senior year. "When I saw this was a three-year program with a master's in four years, it was perfect."
Corrected 3/5/12: A previous version of the story misstated information regarding Ted Griffith's master's degree and company.
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