Giles Sims, 34, was sick of getting passed over for jobs because he didn’t have a college degree.
But with a wife and a widowed mother to help support, he needed a quick solution. So the laid-off web developer turned to one of a growing number of three-year degree programs.
“I can’t afford to be out of the workforce for four years. That just seems like forever, and the three-year made it seem less daunting,” said Sims, a student at Ensign College, a private Salt Lake City school that recently changed all its bachelor’s degrees to require fewer classes than a traditional four-year degree.
The condensed programs have exploded in popularity. As of this spring, 26 U.S. states have a college that offers at least one reduced-credit, three-year bachelor’s, according to the nonprofit research group RAND.
Advocates say these programs are a solution to the college affordability crisis and a godsend for non-traditional students like Sims.
