What’s in a Name?
Let’s Set 3-year Bachelor’s Degrees on a Path Toward Success
by Calling them “Focused Bachelor’s Degrees.”
Tre Hargett
There is a movement in higher education to offer new and innovative 3-year bachelor’s degrees. I have promoted the benefits of these programs and am encouraged that many stakeholders I have spoken with welcome the name for the degrees that I have proposed, a Focused Bachelor’s Degree. These credentials would require 90-100 credit hours rather than the traditional 120 and could be completed in three years. Students who choose this option would focus on coursework critical for their discipline, maintain a solid foundation of general education, sometimes with fewer courses, and take fewer non-major electives.
In a time when the median student debt for a 4-year graduate in my state of Tennessee is over $20,000, the aim of the new degree programs is to offer a faster, more affordable path to the learning outcomes sought by employers. A surprising hurdle, however, stands in the early path of these new programs – the name of the credential – which could determine a student’s willingness to enter them.
Established, accredited programs of this nature use a variety of names, such as applied bachelor’s, career-focused bachelor’s, or fast track bachelor’s programs. Others simply label them as 90-hour or three-year bachelor’s degrees.
Some make the case that the credentials should simply be named bachelor’s degrees, as they confer the same learning outcomes in a chosen discipline. Others wish to distinguish the new credentials from 120-hour programs and prefer alternative names.
Certainly, national efforts to name these degrees should include universities, employers, accreditors, and public officials and ensure the consumers of higher education know what the degree represents. The success of this change in thinking should not falter on a degree name that limits the development of these programs.
We must seize this opportunity to rethink the value proposition that higher education offers students in a way that could boost enrollment and completion, confer needed skills, lower debt, and give millions of Americans a faster path to prosperity.
Recent guidance from Tennessee’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), suggests two options: “reduced hour” bachelor’s or “abridged” bachelor’s degrees. These names are problematic as they imply less value of the programs and would limit universities’ ability to market them.
I suggest that the national College-in 3 Exchange, SACSCOC, other accrediting organizations, and business groups coalesce around the option of a “Focused Bachelor of (discipline).” A Focused Bachelor’s degree signals a rigorous curriculum within the discipline while still distinguishing the program from a traditional 120-hour bachelor’s degree.
SACSCOC, and other accrediting organizations should be commended for opening a door to these degrees and I salute our Tennessee university leaders for pursing this innovation. With the introduction of these programs, we must be cautious lest we inadvertently limit the number of students who might benefit from such degrees because of an unfortunate moniker.
Most readers would have no idea, the traditional 120-hour degree program in the United States developed from roughly the 1890s to 1920s was based on a 120-hour high school system embraced by Andrew Carnegie that ultimately was modified and adopted by universities. The system created a more standardized method to manage faculty work, budgeting, and degree completion, but it was never designed as an ideal measure of learning outcomes.
While many will still choose 120-hour programs, it is time to offer options to that century-old model that would benefit all students, but especially the 70-75 percent of students in American higher education who are non-traditional – those who delay enrollment after high school, are working full-time, are parents, or attending part-time. And it starts with a degree name that reflects their mastery of a discipline, a focused degree, a Focused Bachelor’s degree.