Board considers whether to OK 3-year bachelor's degrees in Mass.

The Board of Higher Education is considering allowing colleges and universities in Massachusetts to offer three-year bachelor’s degrees, reducing the typical 120-credit requirement. The proposed measure aims to provide students with a faster, more affordable path to a degree, though members of the board wondered Tuesday about the trade-offs.

To earn a bachelor's degree, traditionally a four-year degree, students are required to take and pay for 120 credits. An associate's degree, or a two-year degree, is 60 credits. The new three-year bachelor's programs that some universities around the country are beginning to offer are sub-120 credits -- students will graduate with the same bachelor's degree as peers who attended school for four years, but they'll have completed fewer credit hours to do so.

Universities and colleges have previously offered three-year degree completion for students who have a head-start from advanced coursework in high school, take extra classes over the summer or overload their schedule during the semester. Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island became the first university in the U.S. earlier this year to announce an in-person three-year bachelor's program launching next fall.

In the Johnson & Wales three-year bachelor program, students are only required to complete 90 to 96 credit hours, and take a regular semester load of courses during the academic year. The university is only offering the accelerated degree program in computer science, criminal justice, graphic design and hospitality management.

The New England Commission of Higher Education, which serves as the institutional accreditor for most of the private and public colleges in New England, was one of the last hold-outs in allowing its universities to create a three-year baccalaureate path.

However, in March, NECHE gave a green light to Merrimack College in North Andover and New England College in New Hampshire to begin to develop a three-year program.

Merrimack is hoping to pilot a program focused on three to five non-licensure majors, like business, health science, physics and liberal arts for a 90-credit degree. The school would target lower-income, higher-ability students to accept into the program, particularly those interested in pursuing a graduate degree after undergrad.

The college said in a presentation to NECHE that the program is "seen as a positive opportunity to make significant change in curriculum, costs and degree completion."

However, in Massachusetts, state law requires that the Board of Higher Education also clear a path for reduced credit degrees.

"In order to allow for innovative proposals, such as one that we anticipate bringing to the board later this year, for a three-year degree, we would need to amend our regulations or issue some sort of innovation policy to allow for this flexibility," Dena Papanikolaou, chief legal counsel at the Department of Higher Education, said at a board meeting Tuesday.

Tuesday's discussion was preliminary. Papanikolaou gave a presentation about the board's authority to amend regulations to allow for a three-year pathway, either just for Merrimack College, or system-wide for all public and private colleges and universities in the state to carve a similar path for certain majors.

Board member Alex Cortez said he had "a lot of very mixed feelings" about the proposal.

"What's the trade-off? What is being given up for that fourth year of credit? Is it electives? Is it general ed? Is it around requirements for a major?" he said.

Cortez later said, "I would not be afraid for us to get a little philosophical, because this does get into, I think, some fundamental questions of what is the purpose of higher education. What knowledge and skills are being conferred, against what we as a society think is important, but then also balanced with what individuals who have limited time and money and ambitions feel they need to pursue their their ambitions."

Danielle Allen, another board member, questioned the thought process behind calling the three-year degree a bachelor's degree.

Member Judy Pagliuca said she saw it as an opportunity to keep Massachusetts competitive with other states in the higher education landscape, and to help supply struggling businesses with a ready workforce.

"How do we make sure that what we're doing allows us to fulfill the needs of our state and not see our students move to other states," Pagluica said. She added, "We need to better understand the bigger landscape of what's needed by the business community in order to fulfill the growth objective."

Three-year bachelor's degrees are starting to gain traction around the country as a more affordable option for chosen students in certain designated areas of study.

The Utah Board of Higher Education created a new Bachelor of Applied studies degree in March, that only requires 90 credits; and in Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a law last spring requiring every state college and university to review their bachelor's degree programs to determine if they could be completed in three years by a full-time student.

The Board of Higher Education discussion concluded Tuesday with members agreeing to have a special session strictly about the topic of three-year degrees.