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t least on paper, earning a college diploma in three years instead of four is the obvious move. Because the average bachelor’s degree requires 120 credit hours, the student in a hurry needs merely to take 18 hours of coursework for six straight semesters, then supplement that learning with six credit hours during both of his summer breaks. Should he be in possession of Advanced Placement or dual-enrollment credits, his road is all the smoother. CLEP tests, too, can clear the path, knocking general-education requirements aside like ducks in a shooting gallery.

So why don’t more students avail themselves of this option? The easiest answer is that it sounds hard, especially to an 18-year-old who believes, increasingly falsely, that college is going to be more difficult than high school. As the National Student Clearinghouse reported in 2022, the average first-time, full-time student attempts fewer than 27 credits and earns fewer than 22 across his entire freshman year. In most instances, this means that our 18-credit-per-semester dynamo will be taking one or even two more classes than his peers at any given time. (A typical college class is three credit hours.) Moreover, he lacks the luxury of occasionally slacking off. Even a single “F” will put our man hopelessly behind schedule.

It is also the case that a three-year plan requires an unusual amount of foresight. The student who wishes to try it must probably begin on Day One — or, better still, in high school, when AP and other credits can be pocketed in advance. And what if one attends a small university that offers certain courses in the fall or spring only? Even more preparation is then necessary, to ensure that the classes one needs are available when one has time to take them.

Yet the real sticking point might be none of the above for most students. Instead, the answer may be as simple as cultural inertia. The college degree, we are told, takes four years to earn. The institution’s very language (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) insists as much, as does the habit of classifying as “full-time” those undergraduates who take a mere twelve to 15 credit hours per semester. The student who finishes in three years must see these customs for what they are: self-serving mythmaking on the part of colleges and universities. Until recently, such a student has had little formal assistance. At long last, however, that may be beginning to change.

But first, let’s look at the benefits of a three-year plan. The first and most obvious is that knocking two semesters off of the college experience saves a boatload of money. According to U.S. News’ most recent data, the average tuition-and-fees sticker price at American universities ranges from $10,662 (in-state public) to $23,630 (out-of-state public) to $42,162 (private). Add in room and board, and a full year of savings is likely to surpass $25,000. Additionally, while the aforementioned summer classes may chip slightly away at one’s savings, the 18-hour semesters likely won’t. This is because colleges tend to charge the same tuition for any course load between twelve and 18 hours. Students at the low end of that scale are simply giving away money.

And what of the opportunity costs of dragging out one’s time on campus, rarely discussed but real nonetheless? While his friends are accumulating yet another two semesters of student-loan debt, our man will presumably be starting his career, notching a solid year of salary, benefits, experience, and connections. Yes, he will miss out on some high-quality socializing. I’m very sorry. But he will also be starting his actual life. Such a move carries its own kind of excitement.

Happily, the three-year degree is experiencing a burst of momentum at present. A bill signed by Indiana governor Eric Holcomb in March requires the state’s public colleges to offer at least one three-year degree (and possibly more) by next year. The Utah Board of Higher Education recently approved a new category of degree, the Bachelor of Applied Studies, designed to be completed in six semesters rather than eight. Intriguingly, officials in both states have in mind not only a shortened enrollment period but a reduction (to 90 credit hours) in the amount of work required for a diploma. Ninety hours is also the standard of many of the universities in the College-in-3 Exchange, a consortium of institutions “hosting conversations to design undergraduate degree options that increase student success while decreasing student costs.”

Amassed against such reforms are the usual suspects, namely faculty and the accrediting bodies that exist largely to protect faculty interests. Though knee-jerk, their opposition isn’t difficult to understand. An institution that graduates students in three years rather than four may well require fewer instructors, particularly if much of the padding has been stripped from the curriculum. Just as important, a university willing to make so drastic a move now is probably open to even greater reform in the future. Accreditors hate that. The last thing they want is a nation of higher-ed institutions willing to take chances, follow market demands, and jettison the staid and hoary settlements of the past.

Nevertheless, the three-year-degree movement may be unstoppable. Undergraduates seem to want it, politicians certainly approve, and universities that heed the call are likely to be rewarded with an influx of student dollars. In the meantime, ambitious 18-year-olds should be about the business of making their own fun . . . er, very hard work. The only thing standing in their way is tradition. And what could say “teenager” more than breaking that?