Students look to three-year degrees to ease financial concerns

For some Penn students, senior year is going out of style.

Yael Landman, a third-year senior majoring in English and Jewish Studies, started her freshman year as part of the class of 2010. She will be graduating this May along with the class of 2009.

Three-year college degrees are gaining attention in the academic world as students look to get a head start on graduate school or save money.

A three-year program would cut costs for students and allow them to begin graduate school at a younger age, now-deceased former Penn Higher Education Studies professor George Keller argued in an excerpt of his new book in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

For Ayal Robkin, a student in the Masters of Jewish Education Program at Penn, graduating in three years was his plan from the onset. The University of Maryland graduate of 2008 finished his undergraduate degree in only 5 semesters.

After starting with 22 credits - some from a gap year spent in Israel - Robkin worked hard to finish quickly. He took 17 classes his last year at the University of Maryland, including winter and summer sessions.

"I need to be active," said Robkin. And active he was - he complemented his coursework in his Jewish Studies major and Film minor with ethnic dance classes and extracurricular activities.

But even though some higher-education experts advocate the introduction of three-year programs, Penn has no official plans to consolidate its curriculum.

According to Rob Nelson, the Associate Provost for Education, Penn is not looking into a change "in any official way."

As an academic pre-major advisor, Nelson sees value in a four-year college experience.

"The period where you are not in class can be as important in terms of intellectual development as time spent in class," said Nelson.

Graduating early and expediting the college process, he said, may not be the best option for students.

Robkin agreed. "College is a time to cultivate personality," he said.

There were "different things on campus I would have liked to explore, said Robkin. A popular course on Human Sexuality, for example, is one class he would have taken if he had stayed at the University of Maryland for another year.

He sees his year in the Masters program here at Penn as his "year abroad."

However, despite the cultural and developmental value of a traditional four-year degree, the ability to save a year's worth of tuition is a major draw for some students.

For Landman, who plans to matriculate in graduate school next year, saving almost $50,000 was a primary concern.

Robkin also admitted that the financial incentives played a "huge" role in his decision.

And even though he believes that four years in college would benefit students, Nelson said that cost would be one of the primary benefits of a three-year curriculum.

Comments (7)

This story isn't fully legible. There is something wrong with the way it is posted. The right side of the page is cutoff throughout.

If you want to save money but also get all the personal development stuff, you can stay on campus for four years and just take 2 of the semesters off. A buddy of mine did that and loved it.

I would have loved a three year deal if I could have handled it academically. By the end of my third year, I was totally over the whole 'personal development' thing and ready to move on. Turning 21 seemed like a good benchmark for the next phase to me.

I have a feeling this will become a more popular approach in coming years, but not just because of the cost savings. With so many people choosing online courses for the time flexibility, it only makes sense that traditional institutions will have to find a way to make it more convenient to actually come to school. If they don't, they'll see a decline in sales, just like any other business that doesn't try to be competitive.

Yael Landman, a third-year senior majoring in English and Jewish Studies... "For Ayal Robkin, a student in the Masters of Jewish Education Program at Penn... he complemented his coursework in his Jewish Studies major and Film minor with ethnic dance classes and extracurricular activities." No wonder they graduated so quickly! If I majored in fluff a 3 year degree would have been a breeze too. English, jewish studies, film, and ethnic dance; sounds like some real academic heavy lifting...

Kinda odd you only interviewd people studying Jewish academic areas...

I graduated in 3 years and went to grad school in the same school. It's a sweet deal - my undergrad major (a rigorous one not like jewish studies or w/e) and most ugrad classes were starting to bore me, and I felt like moving on and starting anew. I don't really care to identify my school or my major because there are so few of us. Now I get more academic rigor, a new social life, plus I can come see my old friends who are still seniors whenever I feel like it. It didn't have that much to do with money - my parents would have paid for a 4th year, although they sure must be glad they don't have to. A lot of my former classmates had the academic wherewithal to follow my path and some even have the credits required to graduate a year early but didn't. Unfortunately, many don't have the slightest idea of what they want to do next, so they spend an extra year taking easy, useless classes trying to pull their shit together. It's not just in the academics but in planning early for the next step and knowing what you want to do after school. Three years is good timing for college - that's the way it goes in the UK without a hitch. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying going to some of the events for seniors twice :)

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