Most students enter college expecting to spend the next four years studying, going to classes, attending sports events, and preparing for their future careers. Four years. That’s all we students expect to spend at college.
However, the average student today is spending six years and seven months at college. This time span takes into account time taken off for work, repeating classes, or just the appeal of not being quite ready to end the college experience. But when you consider that the average public college tuition is $6,585 per year, that’s a total tuition cost of $44,119.50, not to mention living expenses and books.
So what if some schools started offering programs that were geared towards helping students graduate in only three years? That could be pretty beneficial, if you ask me. Imagine spending about half of the time in school, graduating early, and starting your professional life. You’d be making money, not spending it. Not too bad of a deal, right?
Hartwick College, which is a small college located in New York, has been making this offer to motivated students. Hartwick College is not the only school following this new trend. According to Newsweek, this new accelerated program “could become the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car.”
Should other colleges that are not offering this new three-year-degree program be worried? Possibly. It just depends how popular the program becomes. It is in the beginning stage but is quickly gaining popularity among small, liberal-arts schools. Keep your eyes posted for accelerated degree programs becoming more and more mainstream in the next few years. Who knows, maybe you’ll earn your petroleum engineering degree in three years instead of four or more!
Via NewsWeek.
posted on October 23rd, 2009 by Kelsey
Tags: accelerated degree programs, college tuition, engineering degree, Hartwick College
Posted in Colleges, News | 2 Comments »
October 29th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Providing college/university students with study abroad opportunities is an experience of a lifetime.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:16 am
I am sure that with the news of escalating lay offs and unstable economy, the only thing that comes to our minds is to how to get into a secured career. Nothing in these tough times can guarantee you of a secured career, but expediting the process of getting a typical 4 year college is a great choice for most of us. not only allow you to graduate ahead of time and hit the workforce early but are a great way of cutting down the college costs too.