Kansas Board of Regents approves pilot program for reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees

Kansas Board of Regents member Alysia Johnston persuaded colleagues on the board to endorse a three-year pilot program enabling the state's six public universities to offer undergraduate degrees requiring a little as 90 credit hours of instruction rather than the standard 120 credit-hour curriculum. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — The Kansas Board of Regents authorized a three-year pilot project enabling leaders of the state’s six public universities to propose special undergraduate degrees requiring as little as three-fourths the course credit hours as a standard 120 credit-hour bachelor’s degree.

University proposals for development of reduced-credit baccalaureate degrees, or RCBDs, would be vetted by the nine-member Board of Regents. Under the regents’ new policy, public universities seeking approval of alternative degrees would be responsible for demonstrating there was high demand among Kansas employers for graduates who completed an academic program requiring a minimum of 90 credit hours of instruction.

The policy mandated universities wading into the reduced-credit degree option to adhere to the state system’s general education curriculum. Alternative degrees must not conflict with university accreditation standards and must comply with federal financial aid regulations for undergraduate students.

“Institutions that want to explore RCBD programs will need to pursue approval through a rigorous, multi-stage review process,” said Alysia Johnston, a member of the Board of Regents who championed the policy. “We anticipate a limited number of RCBD programs in specific areas with demonstrated workforce demand, as these programs are not intended to replace traditional baccalaureate degrees.”

Left unresolved Wednesday by the Board of Regents was the question of how student diplomas and transcripts would differentiate an abbreviated degree from a regular degree in business, nursing, computer science or any other field. Otherwise, it would be up to recipients of the reduced-credit degree to disclose to potential employers they graduated from a program requiring three years of coursework rather than four years of classes.

Richard Muma, president of Wichita State University, was unsuccessful in an attempt to persuade the Board of Regents to amend the policy to limit the RCBD pilot to “fields where there is an obvious or emerging need to build a workforce.” The Board of Regents didn’t accept his argument the policy ought to declare the goal wasn’t to allow state universities to apply the new credit-hour initiative to “just any degree” on campus.

“That’s a concern that I think some of the other CEOs have as well,” Muma said. “It would strengthen it and give people more guidance if there was additional language added.”

The new policy on accelerated degrees didn’t limit the pilot project to technical, skill-based disciplines or exclude specific bachelor’s degrees from the initiative. The policy didn’t place a cap on how many reduced-credit degrees each university could propose or operate.

Alysia Johnston, who has 37 years of experience in community college education, said the Board of Regents should commit to the examination of student and industry interest in degrees requiring up to 30 fewer credit hours.

“We’re not approving any programs here,” she said. “We’re approving a policy that says that you can bring forth a proposal, through a rigorous process, that will allow you to offer a baccalaureate degree that is less than 120 hours but at least 90 credit hours.”

Board of Regents member Peter Johnston, a Salina attorney, said he shared with others “a sense of caution” about the state entering the RCBD arena. He said he was comfortable with a pilot project that assessed interest in bachelor’s degree options.

“It makes sense from my perspective to proceed with the pilot program and see what proposals come out of that pilot-program apparatus,” Johnston said.

Board of Regents member Blake Benson, of Pittsburg, was optimistic about the pilot program and a board policy granting “our institutions flexibility to design innovative programs that meet a need in Kansas while delivering the academic rigor and student outcomes Kansans deserve.”

He previously said there was an advantage to moving graduates more quickly into the workforce, but he shared apprehension the policy could cause confusion about what a Kansas public university bachelor’s degree meant.

The Board of Regents plans to conduct a survey this year of more than 3,000 businesses to gauge interest among Kansas employers in alternative bachelor’s degrees.

Blake Flanders, in his final meeting as president of the Board of Regents, said he was anxious to learn what potential employers across the state said about the RCBD initiative.

“The board may want to change their tactic if they see there isn’t the demand there,” Flanders said.

Kansas State University officials initiated discussion of a 90 credit-hour option for undergraduate students by proposing an RCBD in uncrewed aircraft systems in September.