Posted on 02/25/2009 5:31:09 AM PST by reaganaut1
Heres one way of cutting college costs: get a degree in three years, instead of four.
This fall, Hartwick College, a small liberal arts college in Oneonta, N.Y., will offer students the option of doing just that, at a savings of more than $40,000.
In the colleges three-year degree program, students will complete the standard 120 credits, taking 18 credits in the fall, 4 in a January term and 18 in the spring. Students will be able to keep their summers free for internships or jobs.
Whether for a three-year degree or a four-year one, Hartwicks tuition next year will be $32,550, 3.9 percent higher than the current year. Room and board will be about $9,000.
We anticipate a great deal of interest in an option that lets students get a top-quality education and save a whole year of tuition, said Margaret L. Drugovich, president of Hartwick.
Although most American students now take longer than four years to complete their degrees, the idea of three-year degrees has been gaining favor in some circles, with several colleges talking about or experimenting with such programs, often involving online courses or summer school.
Earlier this month, [...] Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who served as education secretary and president of the University of Tennessee, urged colleges to consider three-year degrees, calling them the higher education equivalent of a fuel-efficient car.
Molly Corbett Broad, president of the council, said she believed the three-year degree option could help private colleges attract students as more families struggle with tuition costs.
Three-year degrees are a very important option, and I think well be seeing more of them, she said. They wont serve a large proportion of students since a three-year degree requires that you finish high school college-ready, enroll full-time and be focused.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Can colleges squeeze the required liberal indoctrination into 3 years?
Our student will be doing it under 4 years - even with a full ride and a dual major!
Better idea eliminate social science departments and replace with Reading Writing and Arithmatic.
India is serious about education. I have serious doubts about higher learning in the US because of creeping grade inflation.
Colleges are now industries and cannot afford to fail students.
So, yes, the whole thing can be accomplished in 3 years, if appropriate cuts are made.
Here’s my idea to cut the cost of education - large numbers of courses do not need to be taught with a live professor lecturing. Yes students need to be able to ask questions and get informed answers, but the actual need for college professors is very low. Use video. We’d actually need maybe a dozen professors for the whole country per academic discipline rather than hundreds.
Students often can finish a 4 year degree in 3 or 3.5 years. I’m amazed at how many students take 5 years to finish just one degree! I also have learned over the years that there are many students who do not take more than 15 credits at a time because more than that would be “too much stress” (i.e. lazy kids need Thursday and Friday - in addition to Saturday and Sunday - for drinking).
State universities should be forced to offer this program. It would greatly benefit the serious students and their parents. Universities have been raising prices far above the rate of inflation for the past 20 years, and it’s time the taxpayers required some cost-cutting and accountability from them.
Go to online schools. Keep the same curriculums and have the classes moderated and facilitated by the instructors. As far as papers go, they will still have to be written. Tests can be done out of book.
Who cares if you can remember what year some tyrant decided to take over a country. It doesn’t go on your degree anyway.
Probably can save several thousand a year.
“Go to online schools”
They aren’t much cheaper than the real world schools!
Higher ed is a scam, at least in part.
Depending on your major, it’s not difficult at all to graduate in three years. Take out some of the ridiculous liberal arts requirements and who knows how quick one could graduate.
In most universities, you cannot even be accepted unless you complete the FASFA application, even though you are not eligible and have no interest in the $$. Plain and simply, universities are trying to grab every federal aid dollar they can get their hands on.
Given the access to and abundance of government money, it is any surprise the price has gone up precipitously and the quality has gone down? Government sub-optimizes everything it touches.
I did it in three years by going to summer school, but then I squandered the year that I saved.
I have a better way than that. Go to a State University. 6,000 a year room and board included. Get a part time job and pay for it yourself. My niece did. Easy.
JC Penney University On-Line Campus.
An interesting concept. I went to Hartwick for one year (when the tuition was around $7K). Dilbert’s Scott Adams is also an alum.
The major challenge the Hartwick students will have is ignoring the 50-plus bars that I recall being located in Oneonta’s downtown.
At least we didn’t have dedicated indoctrination in the classes I took... who knows what it’s like now.
I did mine in 3.5. Not impossible if you want to WORK! U of I '53 DC

They could also let students audit or skip courses taught by liberals which generally just involve a confused liberal spouting opinions and ridiculing conservative students.
I assume they are only talking about saving room and board and various fees for that last year aren’t they? You would still be paying for 120 hours.
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