<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052203681.html?hpid=topnews[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052203681.html?hpid=topnews</a> </p>
<p>“In an era when college students commonly take longer than four years to get a bachelor’s degree, some U.S. schools are looking anew at an old idea: slicing a year off their undergraduate programs to save families time and money.”</p>
<p>I will be finishing in three years, works fine for me.</p>
<p>Many students have the option of finishing in three years, if it is time they are concerned with.</p>
<p>If it is the amout of classes needed, my opinion is there is too much fluff in many degrees, seems just for making money and filling in the spaces, also for assisting with grade inflation.</p>
<p>We really can’t compare what goes on in England and other European contries to the US. Their high school graduates have the equivilant of one year of college. Thus, their univeristies can offer a three year degree. We would need to change what we offer in our primary education in order to be equivilant.</p>
<p>The high school system in other countries extends one year beyond 12th grade in the US. Thus, high schoolers only have to attend 3 years of college to get an undergrad degree. This idea wouldn’t work in the US unless the high school system is extended.</p>
<p>A featured thread a couple months ago discussed this very topic. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/659612-college-three-years.html[/url][/size]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/659612-college-three-years.html</a></p>
<p>How about condense the 5 year accelerated masters program into 4 years?</p>
<p>A couple of my close friends at Hopkins are doing a BS/MA within four years (graduating in 3 years and completing the accelerated masters for one more year)…</p>
<p>Might as well complete the standard four year regiment and get a masters degree out of it. :)</p>
<p>A 3-year BS would be great and a 4 year BS/MA is even better! I have taken a considerable amount of AP and community college courses to bypass my freshman year of college. Colleges should offer this opporunity to students who demostrate that they have the capacity to complete their degree a year earlier.
Or colleges could remove required classes that have nothing to do with the students major. I look forward to this.</p>
<p>Suggest everyone go back and read IBclass06’s link (post #5). 6 pages of discussion on this topic have already been done on CC. The original link to the NYT article is <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/education/25hartwick.html?_r=2&ref=us[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/education/25hartwick.html?_r=2&ref=us</a></p>
<p>Even with 30 semester units from high school AP credits my son will have to take a speech class (he took speech two years ago), a class including cultural diversity content (the students at his high school were racially and culturally diverse), a writing class (because his AP English score was a 4 instead of a 5), and a few other classes that will take time and money that might be better spent on classes of his own choosing.</p>
<p>We’re not too upset about any of this. Meeting silly requirements imposed by the State of California is a life lesson in doing what one must in order to do what one wants. But that doesn’t make the requirements any less silly.</p>
<p>“Meeting silly requirements imposed by the State of California is a life lesson in doing what one must in order to do what one wants.”</p>
<p>Agreed 100%, it’s also a learning experience for how to deal with bureaucracy in the real world.</p>
<p>How is a college ever going to provide the same level and amount of education a 4 year curriculum requires, in 3 years ? Unless they strike all prep courses and liberal arts elements out of for example Business or Engineering majors ( Which would be very foolish ), students will be under huge pressure or are going to have a more narrow education</p>
<p>4 years is fine. Students need the time to develop themselves, and explore different subjects, liberal art courses, etc. Education shouldn’t be a race. I am from the Netherlands, and a Dutch bachelor generally takes 3 years. In other words, 21 or even 20 year olds go to grad school. I think that’s not good ( no offense ). College is more than just studying. College is also about exploring one’s interests, meeting friends, taking weird classes, and enjoying your time. And that takes more than 3 years.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But is that worth $50,000?</p>
<p>‘‘But is that worth $50,000?’’</p>
<p>Again, unless you have the same amount of courses in 3 years which would normally be in 4 years, people end up having a narrow or very pre-professional degree. I think a 4 year curriculum broadens one’s education. Besides, how well are students going to adapt to a hugely increased workload ? Is flunking out worth a saving of $ 50,000 ?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is it better to have never attended college at all? Or having to change your college plans because of $50k?</p>
<p>Why not have a 3 year program as an option? There are people who go to college not to “broaden one’s education,” but rather go for the sole purpose of putting themselves in a better position to secure a better job. I’ve met plenty of them. Even if these programs become more pre-professional, there is nothing wrong with that. If you force these students to take more general courses, will they actually learn anything if they have no interest in them? </p>
<p>I am not saying all bachelor’s programs should be 3 years, but it should certainly be an option. Some students can definitely handle the increased workload. If they can’t, they’ll just graduate in 4 years instead.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think this is incorrect, at least in my experience. Granted European high schools do give a more specific education, maybe even to the point it is similar to a first year undergraduate in the United States, the university program is not nearly as time consuming as in university in the United States. I have some experience in Swedish university and Swedes go to class far less frequently than Americans and, from my experience, the work is much less demanding. For example, at my home university in the United States I would generally take 5 courses for 15 credits, usually three 50-minute courses MWF and two 1hr20min-courses on TR. At Vaxjo University in Sweden (my study abroad university) three to four courses or 30 credits (ECTS system, this is equivalent to 15 credits in the United States) is the norm. In my experience, the classes are taken consequtively, not concurrently. My first course lasted one month, the second course lasted another month, and the third course (Bachelor’s Thesis) lasted for the remainder of the semester. The first two courses met roughly once a week for 2 hours, sometimes twice a week. The homework per course was equivalent to one course’s weekly homework in the United States. As you can see, even assuming that Swedes essentially start university as second year students, they don’t even come close to having the same demanding schedule as three years of university in the United States.</p>
<p>FYI, I was studying abroad in Sweden but I was not taking classes specifically for study abroad students. I was the only student from abroad in my classes and this was the final semester for the students in my class as it ended with the writing a bachelor’s thesis which is required for graduation.</p>
<p>I’m planning to graduate from college at 20; it’s about starting early.</p>
<p>Harvard offers an “advanced masters” program, where a person can get their bachelors in 3 years and a masters in 1 more year. If I did that, I would have a Bachelors and a Masters by the time I am 21, which is certainly an interesting prospect.</p>
<p>Also, for a lot of these 3 year programs, they don’t necessarily add more classes; they simply remove the general requirements and/or use ap credit to satisfy them.</p>
<p>I agree with the posters on the previous page who say there is nothing wrong with degrees becoming more pre-professional.</p>
<p>The ‘broad-based education’ could still be achieved for those who can throw another 50k at the school without blinking an eye, but for the rest of us in the middle class who are taking out loans and passing up schools that cost 50k, it’s very helpful to drop a year and just get what we need to be productive.</p>
<p>In almost every way, the idea of an academic or getting a broad-based education is a throwback to the elitism and out-of-touch nobles of humanity’s darker days.</p>
<p>“College is more than just studying. College is also about exploring one’s interests, meeting friends, taking weird classes, and enjoying your time. And that takes more than 3 years.”</p>
<p>Give me a damn break. Who in their right minds, unless they are rich, drops thousands of dollars to make friends and take “weird” classes? College is for obtaining a skill to make money so a person can contribute to society and live, not for a social club. Social activities are at college, but that is just the by-product of the mission of the college.</p>
<p>At 32 years old and after 12 years in the Marines, I have explored my interests, made my friends, ect, but yet according to you, I still need those skills, as if three combat tours, living in four countries, and traveling to 47 others have not done that for me already.</p>
<p>Stop with the BS, three years is plenty of time, many have done it just as many have done it in six years.</p>
<p>If YOU feel you are too imature to face the world, that is all on you, but don’t go generalizing it for everyone else.</p>
<p>Again, the four year thing is all about money, nothing more. Some degrees need it, others do not. If it wasn’t about money, then many colleges wouldn’t be so anal about their transfer credit policy.</p>
<p>Plus, it is ridiculous to even have all degrees with mysteriously the same, or near same requirements. Why does someone majoring in English need the same amount of credits as someone majoring in ME? Makes no sense, but according to your logic, the ME will not be as “educated” as the English major due to the lack of diverse classes, funny how the job market does not seem to dictate that, hence the point of going to college.</p>
<p>“If YOU feel you are too imature to face the world, that is all on you, but don’t go generalizing it for everyone else.”</p>
<p>Please, this is a friendly discussion.</p>
<p>“Why does someone majoring in English need the same amount of credits as someone majoring in ME?”</p>
<p>That gets to the heart of the matter. The uniformity of program length has to to with uniformity of revenue per student. Nobody in the college business wants to give up any revenue for the sake of efficiency. And given the unquestioned acceptance of a four year college curriculum by the moms and dads who write the checks, it isn’t surprising that colleges work hard to harvest this consumer surplus. They’d be chumps not to listen to their own econ faculty when it comes to pocketing the consumer surplus.</p>