Have you been shying away from pursuing a bachelor’s degree because you don’t have the time or money to spend four years in college? If so, you might be interested in looking into a new program that is being offered by Hartwick College this fall.

Hartwick College, which is a small liberal arts college located in Oneonta, New York, has announced that it will be offering a three-year bachelor degree program to students who are interested in speeding up the process while saving money at the same time. In fact, according to the school, students who enroll in the program can expect to save over $40,000 by participating in the 3-year program rather than the traditional 4-year program.

In addition to cutting back on tuition expenses, the innovative program also manages to allow students to accelerate their learning without having to give up their summers. Rather, they earn 18 credits in the fall, 4 credits during a January term and 18 credits in the spring, allowing them to earn 120 credits in just three years. By keeping their summers free, students can still participate in internships or hold down a summer job. Better yet, students who participate in the 3-year program pay the same tuition as other students.

We anticipate a great deal of interest in an option that lets students get a top-quality education and save a whole year of tuition,” said Margaret L Drugovich, who is the president of Hartwick, in an article in the New York Times.

Hartwick isn’t the only college that is experimenting with 3-year bachelor degree programs. In fact, several others have started talking about or experimenting with similar programs, many of which involve some sort of online schooling component. Furthermore, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who is a Republican who once served as both the education secretary and president of the University of Tennessee, has openly encouraged schools to pursue 3-year bachelor degree programs. He even spoke in favor of these programs earlier this month at the annual American Council on Education meeting.

Molly Corbett Broad, who is the president of the American Council on Education agrees that 3-year bachelor degree programs should be provided as an option to students who are interested in pursuing a higher education.

“Three-year degrees are a very important option, and I think we’ll be seeing more of them,” she said in the New York Times article. “They won’t serve a larger proportion of students since a three-year degree requires that you finish high school college-ready, enroll full-time and be focused.”

Although this certainly sounds like a good step to take in terms of helping more people obtain the higher education they are after, many schools that have looked into this approach have experienced a great deal of resistance from faculty members. In addition, some schools have found little student interest in this type of program. Upper Iowa University, for example, offered a 3-year bachelor degree program about 5 years ago and only 5 students signed up for the program. Even worse, none of them actually finished the program in three years. On the other hand, 3-year undergraduate programs are considered to be the norm in Europe, where students attend one more year of schooling before they pursue a university education.

Despite the lack of success that other schools have had with 3-year degree programs, Hartwick appears poised to experience a greater level of success. Not only have things changed dramatically in the last few years in terms of the economy and employment, but the school is also offering an extensive number of 3-year degree programs. In fact, 22 of the schools 31 programs will be offered on the 3-year track. In addition, the school is taking steps to only include those students who are most likely to succeed in an accelerated program, such as opening the program to only those who maintained a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average in high school.

“This is not an easy thing for a college to do, and there are some programs, like music education, where we just didn’t think students could get through in three years,” commented Dr. Drugovich. “In each program, students signed up for a three-year degree will have a special adviser to help them move through their courses.”