Students may soon be able to earn bachelor\u2019s degrees in as little as three years at California State University campuses as system leaders contend with a need to attract more working-age students and those without a degree who are eager to lift their job prospects.<\/p>\n
The system\u2019s trustees voted unanimously this month to allow campuses to create three new types of shortened bachelor\u2019s degrees<\/a>: <\/p>\n Bachelor of education, for aspiring teachers who want a degree focusing on teaching Bachelor of professional studies, which targets employees pursuing managerial positions that will give them course credit for skills learned at past jobs Bachelor of applied studies, which will be geared toward students with vocational or technical training, such as in car maintenance or home heating repair<\/p>\n The new types of degrees don\u2019t replace the existing four-year bachelor\u2019s in the arts and sciences but will instead widen the offerings campuses can provide \u2014 if they want to. There\u2019s no mandate for the campuses to create any. The changes are meant to \u201creduce the time required for students to earn a degree\u201d and to \u201coffer more immediate access to economic and social mobility,\u201d said Nathan Evans, CSU associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, who helped to write the policy. <\/p>\n The new offerings are also designed to compete with for-profit and online colleges that offer quicker degree programs but are generally far pricier than what CSU charges.<\/p>\n Students transferring from community colleges may choose these degrees to earn a bachelor\u2019s in one year, rather than two, Evans said.<\/p>\n Adults with on-the-job experience and busy schedules may opt for these so that they convert some of their workforce experience into completed units and finish their degrees faster, saving money. <\/p>\n Battling enrollment declines<\/p>\n Some Cal State campuses are experiencing enrollment growth but others are battling steep student losses<\/a>, prompting soul-searching about how to bring in more learners and plug the financial holes from lost tuition revenue. Ten campuses have seen enrollment declines in double-digit percentages<\/a> between 2020 and 2025, including East Bay and Dominguez Hills. Fall is the earliest that faculty at CSU campuses will begin working on developing these new degrees. The first ones may debut as early as fall 2027, but more likely in 2028, Evans said. Some faculty express concerns<\/p>\n The systemwide Academic Senate supports the shorter degree plan broadly but objects to specific portions. The Academic Senate wrote publicly<\/a> before the board\u2019s vote that any degree needing fewer than 120 units shouldn\u2019t be called a bachelor\u2019s but some other name. They also wrote that these new degree programs should expire after 10 years, unless an evaluation indicates the degrees requiring fewer units have merit.<\/p>\n \u201cA student who worked hard to earn a degree with 120 units would be lumped in with a student who merely took 90 units, so the traditional BAs and BSs would be devalued. Frankly, students might feel insulted that their hard-earned (in terms of money and in terms of academic work) BAs and BSs are treated the same as degrees with fewer units,\u201d the letter states. <\/p>\n
Nor do the new degrees have to be as short as three years. They may require any number of units that take between three and four years to finish. The policy sets the minimum units for these degrees at 90 units \u2014 which typically take three years for students to complete. A four-year degree generally requires 120 units.<\/p>\n
Evans said the new degrees could appeal to workers in fields undergoing strain, such as set workers in Hollywood. Campuses that adopt these shorter degrees may pair them with master\u2019s programs in professional disciplines as part of accelerated pathways, Evans said.
Chancellor\u2019s office officials indicated that a handful of universities<\/a> in other states now offer these quicker degrees, such as Cornell University<\/a>, the University of Kansas<\/a> and New Mexico State University. Meanwhile, the University of California has promoted traditional four-year bachelor\u2019s degrees that students can earn in three years<\/a>, such as economics and math at UC Santa Cruz<\/a>. Students there generally need to take summer courses to fit all their courses into the tighter window.<\/p>\n
California is home to more than 6 million working-age adults with a high school diploma but no college degree.<\/a> Half of them earned some college credit.
Bachelor\u2019s degree recipients in California typically earn an annual salary of $96,000, according to 2024 data.<\/a> It\u2019s $65,000 for those with associate degrees and $48,000 for workers with only a high school diploma. Student loans may eat into those wages, but most Cal State undergraduates earn their bachelor\u2019s without debt.<\/a>
Another change allows Cal State students to earn a degree without having to accumulate a minimum number of units at any one campus. In the past students had to earn at least 30 units at the Cal State campus awarding them a degree. That requirement is now gone, which could make it easier for some students to earn a bachelor\u2019s, such as those who previously dropped out of one Cal State, moved, and are attending a different Cal State campus to finish their degree.<\/p>\n