This fall, ACE member Yavapai College (YC) will become one of the first institutions in the country—and the first community college—to offer a three-year bachelor’s degree.
The Arizona college worked closely with its accreditor to design a program that meets the same academic standards as traditional bachelor’s degrees while increasing affordability and accessibility. The degree, a 92-credit
bachelor of applied science in business (BASB), costs less than $9,500 for in-state students and is available fully online.
The reduced-credit degree “will be a game-changer for students,”
said YC President Lisa Rhine. “It will allow them to get educated, get their degree, walk across the graduation stage, and impact the workforce a full year sooner than before.”
BASB students will receive a broad, rigorous education in business without concentrating in a particular specialty. The curriculum includes hands-on learning experiences and was developed with input from local business leaders.
A catalyst for developing the degree was the finding that few YC students who intended to transfer to a four-year university and earn a bachelor’s degree ultimately did so. YC learned that many of its students have family and career obligations that make relocating to earn another degree infeasible, and students who do transfer often have to take at least one additional semester of classes due to lost credits.
For students who hope to earn a bachelor’s degree, YC now offers a seamless educational experience that does not require them to leave home. Because students don’t have to transfer, they can know from the moment they enroll the courses their degree requires, and instead of taking extra semesters they can graduate ahead of schedule.
Predictability and affordability are foundational to the program. BASB students will only be responsible for the cost of tuition and will not need to pay student fees or purchase textbooks. With support from a
grant from the U.S. Department of Education, YC developed open educational resources that will replace textbooks in dozens of courses.
The degree also employs a unique schedule that emphasizes flexibility. Students take two courses at a time over an eight-week session instead of taking four concurrent courses for a 16-week semester. This means fewer classes to juggle at once, and if something interrupts a student’s learning in the middle of a session, they will not need to wait a full semester to get back on track.
YC has offered four-year bachelor’s degrees since 2023, when it introduced a bachelor of science in business, and it has since added degrees in nursing and computer science. The college plans to launch additional bachelor’s degrees in high-demand subjects, in both accelerated and traditional formats.
While only 24 states currently
allow community colleges to grant bachelor’s degrees of any kind, Rhine anticipates that YC will be the first of many community colleges offering reduced-credit degrees.
“Community colleges are uniquely positioned to have the agility and flexibility to be responsive to the environment,” she told
Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, “and to really think deeply about how we can redo what we offer to meet the needs of today’s student.”