College to Launch Three-Year Degree Programs

C-N may be a four-year college, but incoming students will soon find that is not the only official option. Now, planning to graduate early will be easier than ever.In a recent article published by Newsweek, Senator Lamar Alexander said, "... [T]he forward-looking colleges . are rethinking the old way of doing things and questioning decades-old assumptions about what a college degree means." Part of that questioning, he continued, includes why a college degree should take four years.

The thought sparked an interest in President J. Randall O'Brien, who approached Provost Kina Mallard with the idea of Carson-Newman becoming the first college in the area to offer three-year programs. Mallard took the idea to the College deans and on the day of his inauguration, O'Brien announced the start of ten three-year programs in the fall of 2010.

"Higher education's gotten very competitive so you think about, without sacrificing quality, what can Carson-Newman College do that sets us apart?" Mallard said.

Since the inauguration, the College has added three more programs to the list and Mallard believes that there will be 15 to 17 by fall.

"We have not changed the graduation requirements. We have not changed the number of hours in the major. We have not made the program of study easier," Mallard said.

"We're just beefing up really our summer offerings and committing to the students that we will offer those courses in the summer so that they can be assured that they can get the degree in three years if they want to."

How It Works

Although it will vary by major, most students on the three-year tract will take six semesters with 17 hours and two summers with 12 hours.

"It's set up for a student coming in with nothing. But students coming in with something would then just take fewer hours," Mallard said in reference to freshmen students who come in with college credits from high school or who CLEP out of certain courses.

"Now, it's not for everybody, but it is for the motivated student. It's not a one-size fits all, so each school and each major is deciding what theirs will look like, but for most of the majors, it means that students will take most of their gen. ed., core classes in the summer."

These summer courses will be a mix of online and on-campus.

"Right now, it looks like about half of the offerings will be online so that they can actually go back home, have their part time job that they've had forever, take the courses," Mallard said.

While summer classes do not cost as much as during the regular school year, there is not always as much financial aid available. The amount of financial aid availble during the summer for students on the three-year program has not yet been decided.

"We're working on it, checking it out, but we don't have any information yet," Associate Director of Financial Aid Darlene Wambaugh said.

Although all these details may not be clear yet, projections show that the three-year program should be a cheaper alternative for students, according to Mallard.

"I think one thing that is important is that Carson-Newman has always been known for individualized education," Mallard said. "One thing we do very well is advisors get to know their students; they are able to figure out their passions and their interests and help them choose courses and choose internships and choose opportunities to help them achieve their goals. This is just one more way we're doing that."

Mallard also praised the School of Social Sciences for leading the way in the three-year programs.

"Every department in our school has developed a three-year plan," Dean of Social Sciences Laura Wadlington said.

"The three-year plans involve taking 17 and a half hours, which students can do without paying extra, each semester and 12 hours in the summer."

This means that the programs are for those students willing to commit, take summer school seriously, and be careful about their amount of outside employment during the summers, Wadlington added.

The Benefits

"They save the college tuition that they would have paid for one year. They enter the workforce and start earning a year earlier. So when you put that together, it's quite a savings," Wadlington said.

The potential savings is not the only benefit students may encounter with a three-year program. For example, athletes with a four-year scholarship could get their master's degree in four years. It can also allow students to enter graduate school a year early.

Another factor is that the program is what Mallard described as "low-risk."

"You can go in and out," Mallard said. "It's sort of no pressure. You can start out very ambitious and then, if it doesn't work out for you, then you just go back into the four-year program."

The tight scheduling will limit the number of programs that the College can add to the list in the future. For example, it was not viable to offer the Bachelor of Music in the three-year program because it is a professional degree. The Bachelor of Arts in Music will be available, however.

"Some of the course work in the Bachelor of Arts in Music is sequential so it will be very important for students to come in and immediately go into the appropriate sequence," Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Chair of Music Clark Measels said. "If we get very far from that kind of straight and narrow path, the three years goes out the window a little."

Measels feels that the benefit of the Bachelor of Arts in Music through a three-year program is in its liberal arts emphasis.

"The big thing is, it offers a broad base, the opportunity for exploring interests in a whole bunch of different areas and at the same time you get a little bit of depth in one area," he said.