Policymakers, accreditors, and institutions are reexamining the traditional bachelor’s degree in the United States. For generations, the dominant model of undergraduate education has been a four-year, 120-credit bachelor’s degree. In recent years, there has been growing concern about college affordability, student debt, the amount of time it takes to earn a degree, and the labor market value of postsecondary credentials. This has prompted interest in whether some bachelor’s degrees can require fewer credits without sacrificing quality.
In response to a statutory requirement in the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, the authors of this report examine the feasibility of reduced-credit bachelor’s degree (RCD) programs in Ohio. The authors draw on a national inventory of RCD programs, a review of institutional and specialized accreditation and Ohio regulatory requirements, interviews with institutional and field-level stakeholders, and a survey of graduate and professional admissions leaders in Ohio. They identify where reduced-credit pathways appear to be most viable under existing conditions, what constraints are likely to shape these programs’ development, and what questions remain unanswered.
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