Two leading educators associations are speaking out against the growing wave of three-year bachelor’s degrees as two pilots gain approval in Massachusetts.
On Sunday, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) lambasted accelerated programs for prioritizing speed over academic integrity.
“A bachelor’s degree should both prepare students for the workforce and provide them with deep learning, broad intellectual development, and sustained engagement with faculty and peers—not simply the fastest possible route to the labor market,” AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a joint statement.
Compressing students’ education risks the underdevelopment of critical thinking and communication skills, the leaders added.
The statement comes in response to two pilots approved days earlier at Suffolk University and Merrimack College.
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Slated for fall 2027, the three-year degrees in business, psychology, healthcare administration and other disciplines offer an affordable option for students “to succeed in today’s workforce,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a press release.
Massachusetts has introduced many college access initiatives, including free community college, a guaranteed upward transfer program and statewide dual enrollment.
“We want more residents to access college, complete their degrees and graduate ready to launch their careers, and that requires both strong investments and new ideas,” said Steve Zrike, the state secretary of education.
Wolfson and Weingarten, however, believe college affordability should be addressed through Pell Grants, TRIO and other public aid programs. “We should reduce the cost of earning a bachelor’s degree, not cut corners and devalue what a bachelor’s degree means,” they said.
Suffolk and Merrimack’s accreditor will review students’ outcomes, finances and enrollment two years after the pilot begins in 2027.
Why the three-year degree has expanded
Accreditors, associations and institutions alike are carefully considering accelerated degrees, as well as other emerging credentials.
Virginia’s Council on Higher Education announced last week that it will work with colleges in the state and Ohio to create a three-year undergraduate degree model. Faculty, administrators, public officials and nonprofit leaders will meet over the next year to discuss establishing two 90-credit programs by spring 2028.
One compact of colleges and universities began spearheading pilot programs in 2021. The College-in-3 Exchange now boasts nearly 70 members, including Merrimack.
“A three-year degree, like other innovations, has unknowns and risks,” Madeleine F. Green, executive director of the College-in-3 Exchange, wrote for AAC&U. “But the status quo carries its own risks—students burdened by debt, employers struggling to fill positions, and an institution whose legitimacy is fraying because it has resisted asking hard questions about its own product.”
Ensign College and BYU-Idaho are among the first accredited schools to offer a three-year bachelor’s degree. The Higher Learning Commission, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and New England Commission of Higher Education—which oversee over 1,300 institutions altogether—have approved pilot programs.
“We’re not encouraging anyone to cut out durable skills,” Higher Learning Commissioner President Barbara Gellman-Danley previously told University Business. “I don’t care what workforce experience a student may have; you have to be able to communicate and you have to be able to write.”
