‘Degree in Three’ offers accelerated educational pathway for students
Early last year, the University of Minnesota Morris rolled out its Degree in Three program, offering a pathway for students to complete their bachelor’s degree in three years. The University of Minnesota Morris had been one of 13 institutions participating in a nationwide pilot program looking into the three-year degree, along with the University of Minnesota Rochester.
Degree in Three at the University of Minnesota Morris could save the average student as much as $20,000 on the total cost of their college education.
The program is especially attractive and manageable to first-year students coming in with college credit earned in high school, either through College in the Schools or the Postsecondary Enrollment Option. In 2023-24, about one-third of incoming University of Minnesota Morris students had more than one semester’s worth of credits, and around 20 percent came in with more than one year's worth of credit (sophomore standing or higher).
“The University of Minnesota Morris has always put students first, and the Degree in Three pathway is just one more way of doing that,” says Chancellor Janet Schrunk Ericksen. “The Degree in Three is set up to appeal to students who might want to finish college quickly, whether it’s because they’re concerned about the cost of attendance or because they simply want to jump into the full-time workforce more quickly.”
Ericksen points out that with the three-year pathway, there’s still time for students to participate in student activities, do an internship, engage with a professor in undergraduate research, or do an independent research project in the summer.