Some colleges offer a 3-year bachelor's degrees to address student expenses and lower enrollment numbers

Colleges are piloting 3-year degree programs in
several states. (Adobe Stock photo)

Amid decreasing enrollment and increasing student costs, some colleges are offering three-year degrees as a solution. "The programs, which also are being tried at some private schools, would require 90 credits instead of the traditional 120 for a bachelor's degree and wouldn't require summer classes or studying over breaks. In some cases, the degrees would be designed to fit industry needs," reports Elaine S. Povich of Stateline. "Proponents of the three-year degree programs say they save students money and set them on a faster track to their working life. But detractors, including some faculty, say they shortchange students."

Utah is one state where the board of higher education approved the 3-year degree. "Various areas of study would be tied to specific industry needs, with fewer electives required," Povich explains. "These degrees are broader than two-year associate degrees but narrower than a full four-year bachelor's."

Geoff Landward, commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, told Povich, "We told the institutions to start working on them now and developing the curriculum. We want them to find industry partners that would be willing to hire people with bachelor's degrees of this type. . . . If we are partnering with industry and they help us develop it, I don't think it cheapens the degree. I think it creates a very specific degree."

The new three-year degree programs requiring fewer credits would still need national accreditation.

Changing social views on the importance of a college degree are some of the reasons colleges are getting creative. "A Pew Research Center survey found only 1 in 4 American adults said it is extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree to get a good-paying job," Povich reports. "More than a dozen public and private universities are participating in a pilot collaboration called the College-in-3 Exchange to begin considering how they could offer three-year programs." 

Many graduating high school students are considering alternatives to college for job training

Some students seek to avoid college because of cost vs.
labor mismatches. (Photo by Nathan Dumloa, Unsplash)

For three generations, going to college and earning a 4-year degree was the coveted path to a rewarding career with a higher income. But the American belief in the "college for all model" has changed, writes Douglas Belkin in an essay for The Wall Street Journal. "So how did one of the crown jewels of American society squander so much confidence so quickly?"

It began with federal student loans to almost any 18-year-old high school graduate, which had a seismic change on higher education enrollment. "Cash and prestige saturated college campuses while alternatives like vocational and technical schools withered," Belkin explains. "Between 1965 and 2011, university enrollment increased nearly fourfold to 21 million as the earning differential between high school and college graduates expanded."

"For middle-class Americans, college made sense as long as a degree generated a large enough wage premium to make the rising cost of the investment worthwhile," Belvin writes. "As that premium became less consistent, the risks of going to college grew and confidence in college as an institution declined."

A college education "is among the largest investments most Americans will make," Belkin adds. The "math doesn't work for a growing number of families. The percentage of students who enrolled in college after graduating high school fell from 70% in 2016 to 62% in 2022. . . . A poll published in 2022 asked parents if they would rather their child attend a four-year college or a three-year apprenticeship that would train them for a job and pay them while they learned. Nearly half of parents whose child had graduated from college chose the apprenticeship."

Changes are also showing up in the workplace. Belkin writes: "In what has been called the 'degree reset,' the federal government and several states eliminated the degree requirements for many government jobs."

Aging populations and too few skilled workers has 42 states offering 'stay and we'll help you pay' student loan options

Mandy Dwinell opted to stay in Vermont.
(Photo by Oliver Parini, Hechinger)

States with aging populations are enticing skilled workers to stay in their state by paying down their student loans. "At least 42 states have enacted student loan repayment or forgiveness programs since 2018, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures," reports Jon Marcus for The Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Almost all of them are for professionals in specific areas of shortages — mostly teaching and healthcare — or who agree to work in underserved areas.

Jamie Kohn, senior research director for the human resources practice of the Gartner consulting firm, told Marcus: "Generally, there is a massive shortage of talent, particularly in certain skilled talent areas. Student loan repayment may be a way for states to mitigate some of the loss of wage growth that people are feeling, so they not only stay, but can afford to start families and buy houses."

Using student loan repayment options gives states latitude in targeting the types of skilled workers they need. For instance, in Utah, "Doctors, dentists and pharmacists who work for at least three years in underserved areas can get up to $75,000 of their student loans paid off," Marcus reports. "South Carolina will pay off up to $5,000 per year of student loans for teachers. Illinois will help repay the student loan debt of school social workers."

Maine and Vermont are states with some of the nation's oldest populations. Vermont has had a series of private colleges close that were once reliable conduits bringing in "young people there who put down roots and stayed," Marcus explains. "That leaves a smaller population of graduates, a decline that's beginning to happen nationwide and that can result in labor shortages, slower economic growth and declines in state tax revenues. Unemployment in Vermont is just 1.8 percent, third lowest in the country after New Hampshire and Maryland. Maine has projected a need for 75,000 more workers in the 10 years ending 2029."

"Two years didn't seem too much to ask from recent grad Mandy Dwinell, either — especially in exchange for help repaying the $20,000 student loan debt she racked up in a college career interrupted by family obligations. She now works for the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers. She told Marcus: "When I was in high school, I'm, like, as soon as I graduate, I'm out of here, I'm not looking back. . . . [But now] I absolutely love it here!"

Biden issues student debt relief; legal challenges likely; rural areas have higher debt rates; see state-level statistics

President Biden announced today that he's canceling $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals who earn $125,000 or less per year or who live in households that earn $250,000 or less. He is also "extending a pause on payments for all borrowers until Dec. 31, capping months of anticipation over a campaign promise to provide economic relief to millions of people," The New York Times reports. Also, there is "$10,000 of debt forgiveness for students who received Pell grants in college, focusing the additional aid on people from lower-income backgrounds." Legal challenges are likely.

Though rural areas tend to have lower college-graduation rates than metro areas, student debt is a critical issue for many rural Americans. "Recent estimates indicate that 6.5 million people in rural areas across the country each owe an average of $35,000 in student loan debt, and that as many as 1.1 million rural student loan borrowers (nearly one-in-six rural borrowers) have fallen into delinquency or default (compared to roughly one-in-seven student-loan borrowers nationwide)," according to the Student Borrower Protection Center, a nonprofit that advocates debt relief. 

"Moreover, the student debt crisis is hitting rural states the hardest. For example, borrowers in the five states with the highest proportion of residents that live in rural areas (Wyoming, Vermont, Montana, Mississippi, and South Dakota, as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture) have a 3-year federal student loan cohort default rate that is over 25 percent higher than that of borrowers in other states (using an average weighted by the number of borrowers in the state, 12.3 percent v. 9.2 percent)." Here's a list of rural student debt data for each state, as of December 2020, from SBPC.

The Biden administration says that 90% of the announced debt relief will go to households that earn $75,000 a year or less. However, the move will likely face legal challenges, so it's unclear when or if it will go into effect, the Times reports: "On its face, the move could cost taxpayers about $300 billion or more in money they effectively lent out that will never be repaid. But the true cost is harder to calculate, and smaller, because much of that debt was unlikely to ever be repaid. More than 8 million people — one in five borrowers with a payment due — had defaulted on their loans before the coronavirus pandemic. Many of those people carried fairly small balances and will now be eligible to have their loans canceled."

The plan "reduces the maximum monthly payment amount from 10% of income to 5% and guarantees that individuals with incomes under 225% of the federal poverty level do not make a monthly payment," reports Ashley Spalding of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. "In addition, as long as those required to make payments do so every month, interest will not accrue."

The issue has been hotly argued for months; some oppose relief, saying it's unfair to those who have paid off loans or are current on them. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it "a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our armed forces in order to avoid taking on debt." Some moderate Democrats on the ballot this fall also came out against it, "a sign of fears that it could alienate swing voters in November," reports Josh Kraushaar of Axios.

Others say $10,000 isn't enough, and still others say it's more important to reduce or eliminate interest, noting that many have paid off the principal many times over, but still owe as much or more than they started with because of interest, the Times reports. Still, the measures will help many. Some 33% of Americans with student loan debt owe $10,000 or less, The Washington Post reports: "Economists at the Federal Reserve say borrowers with the least amount of debt often have difficulty repaying their loans, at times because they did not complete a degree. Conversely, people with the highest loan balances are often current on their payments likely because of their higher education levels and associated earning power."