Massachusetts colleges gain approval for three-year degrees as schools battle enrollment decline

Suffolk University and Merrimack College in Massachusetts became the latest universities to gain approval for three-year bachelor’s degree programs after the Board of Higher Education gave the green light Friday. 

The colleges join more than 60 other institutions that have approved three-year degree pathways in recent years, according to The College Investor.

California State University, the largest public school system in the U.S., likewise voted in May to approve three-year degree programs, including a Bachelor of Professional Studies, Bachelor of Applied Studies, and Bachelor of Education. Its 22 campuses will decide whether to implement the programs.

The University of North Carolina also recently approved a pilot program for expedited degrees designed by its campuses. Seven of the university’s 16 institutions drafted proposals, which could be launched as early as fall 2027, according to the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.

Additionally, Virginia and Ohio are partnering on an initiative called “Scaling College in 3” to develop expedited bachelor’s degree blueprints that require only 90 credits, according to Higher Ed Dive.

President Joe Ross of Reach University, an institution that offers apprenticeship-based degrees, told The College Fix that “speedrun” programs raise fundamental questions about the purpose and value of higher education.

“They beg the question, what is higher education and what makes higher education higher? At some point, training in six months or twelve months is just job training, which is fine. Some people just need a job and they just need training for that job,” he said. 

However, he believes that higher education is more than just job training. 

“It is the combination of what you learn, but also how you learn it and the relationships that play a role in that experience,” he said. 

Ross added that schools are hoping to attract students back to their institutions with their new 3-year degree programs as enrollment declines, noting that newer generations are unwilling to take on student debt. 

“There’s a whole generation that has listened to their parents complain about their student debt, and they’re about to go off to college, and they’re not really interested in taking on a lifetime of student debt,” he said. 

Kyle Saunders, professor of political science at Colorado State University, told The Fix, “A 25% reduction in time-to-degree is a 25% reduction in tuition plus faster entry to the labor market. That’s real value, particularly for working adults and non-traditional students.”

However, the risk is in what schools decide to cut. 

“If this kind of compression preserves the writing-intensive, judgment-bearing parts of the degree, rigor can hold. If it cuts those parts (which AI is already degrading), the credential weakens further,” he said. 

Saunders added that there is no reliable data available so far. 

“The UMaine YourPace data is probably the closest comparator and results are mixed. Cal State’s 22-campus rollout should generate better outcomes data over the next five years,” he said. 

Michael Horn, an author, speaker, and advisor specializing in education innovation, told The College Fix that as tuition costs increase, colleges have been compelled to offer “increasing discounts.”

“Expenditures have increased at a rate above inflation because of a lack of economies of scale inherent in the traditional college model, as well as soaring administrative overhead costs.” This is a result of colleges attempting “to be all things to all people,” he said. 

However, Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, told The College Fix “it’s uncertain whether they will affect enrollment at universities or merely shift it from 120-hour degrees to 90-hour degrees. 

“It’s possible that some students who would have otherwise chosen associate’s degrees will choose 90-hour degrees instead.” 

Meanwhile, faculty unions are strongly opposing the expansion of three-year bachelor’s degrees, according to Inside Higher Ed. 

In a joint statement issued Monday, the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers criticized Massachusetts’ approval of the state’s first such programs at Merrimack College and Suffolk University.

AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AFT President Randi Weingarten called the degrees a “stripped-down curriculum” that prioritizes speed over intellectual development and threatens academic integrity.

“We should reduce the cost of earning a bachelor’s degree, not cut corners and devalue what a bachelor’s degree means,” they wrote.