SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Our Lady of the Lake University is launching a three-year bachelor\u2019s degree program designed to help students graduate sooner, enter the workforce faster and spend less on tuition.<\/p>\n
The new program, called Lake Express, will begin next fall. It allows students in select majors to complete a bachelor\u2019s degree in six semesters without taking summer classes or interim terms, according to Dr. Alan Silva, OLLU\u2019s provost and vice president of academic affairs.<\/p>\n
Silva said the program is part of the university\u2019s broader effort to boost enrollment and better meet students\u2019 needs. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really very much about all of our work,\u201d Silva said. \u201cWe\u2019ve called it a realignment process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The university said the three-year pathway is expected to cut tuition costs by 25% compared with their traditional four-year degree. <\/p>\n
Lake Express will initially be available for four majors: psychology, social work, criminology and criminal justice, and childhood studies. <\/p>\n
Silva said the university is looking at adding more programs in the future. <\/p>\n
The new degree option comes after a year of major changes at OLLU. Last year, KSAT reported that budget cuts<\/a> eliminated 16 degree programs, affected nearly 200 students<\/a> and resulted in layoffs for 19 professors.<\/p>\n Silva said the university\u2019s latest additions are part of the same realignment. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s closing things that aren\u2019t working as well, but opening things, starting things that are really exciting for people,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n Some students said the shorter path could be a strong benefit. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel like this is a really good benefit for all the students,\u201d said Jamie Murillo, an OLLU sophomore.<\/p>\n Murillo said many students are eager to finish their degrees and move on to their careers. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is good to get things done and then work on your future as soon as possible,\u201d Murillo said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to be in school for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Lake Express is not the only change students will see next fall. The university is also adding new business programs for bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees, including one with a concentration in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Silva said new programs can take time to grow, but the university is optimistic about the direction. <\/p>\n \u201cWe believe we\u2019re building a terrific future for our students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Read also:<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Our Lady of the Lake University is launching a three-year bachelor\u2019s degree program designed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[163,89025,58458,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-347051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-education","tag-ollu","tag-our-lady-of-the-lake-university","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}