<p>Univ. of Wisconsin is set to begin offering Bachelors degrees, indistinguishable from their regular degrees, based only a series of on-line examinations. No class time required.</p>
<p>I like that the school is forward-thinking, but this sounds to me dangerously close to what is offered by those bogus diploma mill “colleges” that offer degrees based on your “life experience.”</p>
<p>I always thought that getting degree from a college was supposed to mean that, in some form or another, you actually went to the school for a while and learned something while you were there. Wisconsin will now give a degree based entirely on stuff you learned somewhere else.</p>
<p>Interesting. Questions the entire process of paying exorbitant amount of money for an undergrad degree from anywhere if it is going to be reduced to this form of education.
Just a week or so ago, SUNY’s announced the 3 year bachelor degree </p>
<p>The system will offer students credit for prior learning experience, such as military service, if students can pass assessments.
The SUNY system also will offer students the option of graduating in three years, which may make it the largest public higher education system in the country to do so. Zimpher said by 2015, 25 percent of SUNY students will graduate in three years, saving them tuition money and reducing the student loan default rate by 5 percent.</p>
<p>3-year bachelor’s degree options are available to many students who come in with lots of lower division credits from AP, IB, CLEP, college / dual-enrollment, etc. credits. Not too much new here (and since SUNY appears generous with AP credit units, that is not a big change for SUNY, except in the publicity and perhaps offering additional credit-by-exam options). In addition, many public schools allow transferring in substantially all lower division credit from other colleges, including community colleges.</p>
<p>What is different in the Wisconsin case is the apparent addition of ways to fulfill all or almost all upper division course work for at least some majors with credit-by-exam. Most schools want to see a minimum amount of upper division course work completed at the degree granting school, rather than as transfer credit or credit-by-exam.</p>
<p>These schools will make employers very sceptical of their degrees. 3 year programs, agreed, not a big deal. Large percent of credits not from classes – that’s a problem.</p>
<p>Seems the lumina foundation is backing the Wisconsin initiative as well as the SUNY one, and it seems other states. Empire state college, within the SUNY system has given life work credits by exams, up to 96 from previous college credits, the rest can be obtained by portfolio submission based on work/life experience for quite awhile. </p>
<p>[Education</a> attainment levels in Wisconsin | Lumina Foundation](<a href=“404”>404)</p>
<p>This might help address issues such as those brought up in a recent Bloomberg article about army combat medics having difficulty transferring their skill set into civilian state licenses for emergency care, nursing, etc. That would be a positive outcome of a program like Wisconsin’s.</p>
<p>I do not think the article was very accurate in some details. Every UW campus has the name of the campus on the diploma and the transcript. They might just put a generic UW on them but that does not mean UW-Madison, etc. The UW-Madison has not approved any such degrees nor is it currently involved. The UW-Extension is heading this up. Madison faculty are less than enthused. Only Milwaukee and Parkside have said they are in.</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily think this is a bad idea, but it’s worth noting that it’s probably only a good idea in certain situations. For example, I knew someone who didn’t have a degree, but had 20+ years work experience in his field (and was in his 40’s). Were he to get a degree–any degree–he’d be eligible for many promotions within his company.</p>
<p>Currently the UW system specifies which campus you get your degree from. I am horrified with the thought of someone being able to claim a UW-Madison degree without the currently required final 60 credits on that campus. I wonder if the online degree will be a city-less one. The various UW schools vary widely in rigor. btw- the current governor, Walker, is not known for his greatness or doing good things for education in the state. The WSJ article does not specify which UW school is offering the degree- the older student referenced is in Milwaukee, is it UWM (Milwaukee), the UW system or UW meaning the flagship in Madison???</p>