Three-Year Degree Programs and Factors for Success
Date
2023-04-17
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Southern New Hampshire University
Abstract
The time it takes a student to complete a bachelor's degree in college is ever-changing. The four-year timeframe to finish a degree in the United States has become a dream many will not accomplish for various reasons. Looking to the past, we have seen bachelor’s degrees go from a three-year timeframe to a four-year timeframe, college costs have increased drastically, and students are paying for the impact that time and cost have had on them for years after graduation.
This research resulted in a case study that showcases the work of a sample U.S. universities efforts in developing and delivering three-year undergraduate business degrees, student performance, and alumni perceptions after graduation. It presents the results of a survey that was conducted, proving that the reduction in cost is the main driver for students to enroll and persist to graduation. Experiential learning opportunities woven throughout the curriculum was also a unique programmatic attribute that alumni found to be appealing while being a student and after graduation. The research also looks at a dataset of this same population and analyzes trends found based on their performance and attributes of their college experience. The main finding was that the high school GPA was the most correlated with success in a three-year undergraduate degree. These results lead to propositions that can be used in future program design for universities looking to develop three-year undergraduate degrees.
The qualitative aspect of this research lies in the European interviews around three-year undergraduate degrees. A series of interviews were conducted with higher education professionals in Europe to understand their perceptions of the degrees, their effectiveness, and how students manage to complete them. The interviews resulted in a discussion around the increased need for master’s degrees, the length of time individual majors should take a student to complete, and the mental length concerns over students graduating in three years. The findings again will be developed into propositions that will allow for an international perspective when developing three-year degrees in the future. Further research will be recommended based on the limitations of this study and other areas that presented themselves during the course of the investigation.
Description
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Dissertation