Kansas Board of Regents to study potential of allowing reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees

Seven members of the Kansas Board of Regents — there are two vacancies debated the possibility of allowing creation of new 90 credit-hour bachelor's degree programs at state universities. Board members, from left: Pamela Clancy Ammar, Neelima Parasker, Diana Mendoza, Blake Benson, Blake Flanders (board CEO), Kathy Wolfe Moore and Alysia Johnston. Board member John Dicus isn't visible. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — The Kansas Board of Regents paused review of a proposal from Kansas State University to offer a 90 credit hour bachelor’s degree in uncrewed aircraft systems that necessitated waiver of state policy mandating 120 hours of course credit to earn an undergraduate degree.

The hesitancy resulted from questions about how approval of K-State’s plan could alter the academic landscape of the state’s system of 32 public universities, community colleges and technical colleges. On Thursday, members of the Board of Regents raised issues with how potential students and higher education institutions, as well as business and industry, might respond if Kansas amended the foundational premise of a four-year degree.

The Board of Regents agreed to convene a task force to consider development of a systemwide policy before taking up proposals to sidestep existing rules requiring a bachelor’s degree to represent at least 120 credit hours of study.

“We don’t want to stymie the process,” said Alysia Johnston, a member of the Board of Regents. “This needs a whole lot of thought and input.”

Jesse Perez Mendez, provost at K-State, said the university welcomed the opportunity to participate in the task force’s debate. He said the drone bachelor’s degree for K-State’s aviation campus in Salina had been under consideration along with reduced-credit degrees related to artificial intelligence.

“This is a little bit of a game changer overall and we need to be very cautious,” Mendez said. “What this conversation is not about? It’s not about taking a bachelor’s degree in psychology and reduce that down to three years. It’s with degrees we don’t have on the books.”

He said K-State was committed to collaborating with two-year community colleges and technical colleges on alternative degree offerings.

Board of Regents policy, but not state law, established a bachelor’s degree consist of at least 120 credit hours. Policy says 45 credits must be in upper-division courses. Kansas higher education has been under pressure to recruit students as the U.S. college-age population fell. At the same time, the cost of delivering college instruction kept escalating with inflation.

Heather Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Community College Association, said the 19 community colleges in Kansas had taken a keen interest in reform of laws or policies related to reduced-credit degrees.

She said issues to consider included retention of policy permitting community college students to transfer credits in core subject classes to a university. Supplemental degree models should respond to industry demands and tap into combined potential of the state’s higher education institutions, she said.

“One of the things we’ve been talking about is how do we use the assets we already have more efficiently and deploy expertise from a faculty perspective across all our colleges,” Morgan said.

Unanswered questions

Rusty Monhollon, vice president for academic affairs with the state Board of Regents, said the system had sought for the past decade to increase on-time graduation rates by reducing baccalaureate programs to 120 credit hours. The percentage of undergraduate programs in the Board of Regents system with more than 120 required credit hours decreased from 67% to 8%.

Nationally, he said, the movement to accredit reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees was deepening. In September 2024, the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits Kansas colleges and universities, released guidelines reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees.

Since March, nine U.S. colleges received HLC accreditation of alternative degrees. The list included business administration, information technology, pre-physical therapy, pre-athletic training, fashion business management, semiconductor materials and devices and applied cybersecurity.

“Proponents of these degrees claim they are affordable and match up well with workplace skills demand,” Monhollon said. “Others dismiss them, arguing industry does not recognize them and that they lack the scope and the depth of traditional bachelor’s degrees.”

He offered a range of questions that might be weighed: Would three-year degrees be valued by students, industry and in academic circles? Could reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees cheapen the value of a four-year degree? What would be cut — basic subjects or advanced classes — to shrink course requirements? What should a reduced-credit degree be called? Could Kansas run a pilot program to test supply and demand? What was the range for reduced-credit programs — 90 to 105 credit hours? How would it impact the system’s general education agreements? How should graduate school process applications from students with three-year degrees?

“Not all segments could fit into the three-year degree,” said Neelima Parasker, a member of the Board of Regents. “We have to go to industry and ask them for their feedback instead of just floating this and seeing what they do.”

‘Huge mistake’

Blake Benson, chairman of the Board of Regents, said he was curious if estimates could be made for how many new students would enroll in the state’s public education system if reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees were an option.

Board of Regents member Diana Mendoza said the term used to describe a reduced-credit degree was consequential. She asked if it could be referred to as a workforce specialist degree to help potential employers differentiate between three- and four-year diplomas.

Kathy Wolfe Moore, another member of the state board, said she was concerned Kansas’ higher education system could become “a bit of a slave to the employment fluctuations” in the business cycle.

“I’m quite sure this board … would have no interest in moving our system backward,” said Blake Flanders, who serves as CEO and president of the Board of Regents.

Flanders said expansion of reduced-credit degree programs in Kansas would be complex, but possible if crafted with attention to detail. The cost of eroding confidence in the value of a Kansas bachelor’s degree could be significant, he said.

“If we’re thinking  about, ‘Well, let’s just skinny down or gut that systemwide general education and get all of our savings out of those credits,’ I think, obviously, this board would believe that would be a huge mistake,” he said.