Two area colleges to offer three-year degrees | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/06/2010

Two area colleges to offer three-year degrees | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/06/2010

In response to concern about rising college costs, two local universities plan to allow students to earn degrees in three years, saving them up to a year in tuition and room and board, and getting them into the earning market sooner.
Arcadia University in Glenside said yesterday that it would offer three-year degrees in five of its 40 or so undergraduate programs, beginning in the fall. The programs are business administration, communications, international business and culture, international studies, and psychology.
Holy Family University, in the Torresdale section of Philadelphia, will start more slowly, with one three-year degree program in business administration this fall, officials said. There are eight possible majors within the program.
Arcadia and Holy Family are among a growing number of colleges around the country looking to gain a competitive edge with less costly options for students.
At Arcadia, tuition and room and board total almost $44,000 this year, while Holy Family charges about $33,000.
"There's a market out there, particularly since the cost of college has grown so much," said Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington. "It's starting to get on the radar screen."
Popular in Europe, the three-year degree has been gaining in popularity in the United States in recent months.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), a former U.S. secretary of education and university president, touted three-year degrees in a Newsweek article last fall. Rhode Island in recent months mandated that two of its public universities offer three-year degree options.