The University of North Carolina System announced last month it was exploring the feasibility of offering degree programs consisting of around 90 credit hours as opposed to the typical 120. The UNC System’s curiosity about quicker, cheaper degrees is in line with national trends, appearing in some form in states like Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Indiana.
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But unlike other states, the first step in the process for the UNC System was asking its very own instructors and administrators for their ideas in a formal Request for Proposals process. UNC System Vice President for Academic Affairs Dan Harrison gave institutions until April 17 to submit ideas.
Upon that deadline, Carolina Public Press filed a public records request for the proposals the UNC System received. According to the records, which CPP received on Thursday, seven of the UNC System institutions have submitted proposals for 18 degree programs.
Proposals for degree programs
NC State University submitted the most proposals with six, with UNC-Pembroke close behind with four. NC Central University, UNC-Greensboro and Fayetteville State University submitted two proposals each, and UNC-Wilmington and UNC-Asheville each submitted one.
The lion’s share of the proposals are for business-focused degree programs, one of the areas Harrison said would be given priority given the current workforce needs in accounting and finance in the state, according to the UNC System’s recent report analyzing its alignment with North Carolina’s workforce based on degrees its institutions are awarding.
UNCG’s proposals are for Applied Economic Analysis, housed in the Department of Economics, and Applied Sports Business, in the Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality and Tourism. Both proposals note that they are not proposing any changes to the general education requirements, as such revisions would need to be approved by the Faculty Senate.
UNCP and Fayetteville State’s pitch packages both included business programs and interdisciplinary studies programs, a degree that is made up of two or more different areas of study. UNCP’s proposed business programs would consist of Economic Analysis, Accounting Technology and Applied Business.
Fayetteville State currently offers a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, but it would take this new opportunity to create a Business Management major with a focus on artificial intelligence. The proposal states general education requirements would remain the same and the business major core courses would be streamlined but without content loss. Instead of 29 semester credit hours of unstructured electives, those credits will be “restructured into a coherent Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialization track.”
“The program addresses the growing demand for business leaders who can leverage artificial intelligence, data analytics, and machine learning in organizational decision making,” its proposal reads. “It serves traditionally underserved, military-affiliated, and working adult learners — key mission populations for FSU and the UNC System.”
NC State proposed four agriculture-related programs: Agricultural Business Management, Natural Resources and Conservation Management, Crop Protection and Forest Management and Environmental Technology.
One of NC State’s non-agriculture proposals would also address the growing impact of the artificial intelligence industry on the workforce. Its proposed Applied Data and AI Workforce program would teach “Mastery of data literacy, AI tool proficiency, and domain-specific analytics (healthcare, precision agriculture, public administration).” The proposal cited a 35% projected growth in data science and AI-adjacent roles nationally, showcasing the potential program’s workforce alignment qualities.
As for healthcare, another industry facing significant shortages in the state, NC State proposed a Health Informatics Administration degree, described as “Healthcare informatics, administrative management, and public health operations to support rural medical infrastructure.” NC Central also introduced the possibility of a 90-credit Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree.
The proposal states the credits typically taken in the freshman and sophomore years of the traditional BSN program would be cut down by more than half, while the later curriculum would remain the same.
“Under this proposal, the lower division would be reduced by 30 credits, while the full 62-credit professional nursing sequence would remain unchanged,” NC Central’s proposal states.
“History would be retained, all junior and senior nursing coursework would remain intact, and the curriculum would continue to support essential expectations related to clinical oversight, focused client care experience, progression, and outcomes assessment. This proposal is not a recommendation to dilute the BSN. It is a recommendation to redesign with purpose.”
In what might come as a surprise given the significant reported workforce shortages in engineering, just one proposal introduced a reduced-credit engineering option. NC Central proposed an Engineering Technology program that it said would integrate artificial intelligence and robotics in order to “prepare a technologically adaptive workforce.”
Engineering technology programs generally focus more on application and implementation, whereas other engineering programs cover theoretical approaches as well.
“Engineering programs typically require additional, higher-level mathematics, including multiple semesters of calculus and calculus-based theoretical science courses, while engineering technology programs typically focus on algebra, trigonometry, applied calculus and other courses that are more practical than theoretical in nature,” says the accreditation agency ABET.
UNCW’s proposal for Workplace Writing and Content Creation says it will build upon strengths in its Professional Writing major, while also not ignoring the reality of artificial intelligence’s impact on creative disciplines.
“Workplace Writing and Content Creation will offer a strategic pathway to a degree for students who have identified career goals in writing, editing, design, generative AI, and related communication fields,” UNCW’s proposal states.
“Our Workplace Writing and Content Creation degree offers each student a customized approach and a strengthened résumé, with requirements structured around three certificates that function as distinct credentials and build toward the degree.”
UNCA’s Live Entertainment Production degree program is designed to prepare students for careers in the live events industry including concerts, theater and corporate events. It builds on the existing Music Technology major, but would not require a “standalone general education block,” the proposal states.
Requirements like natural science and a first-year seminar would still be met, just through industry-specific classes like “Physics of Sound and Music” and “Communication for Creative Industries,” which the university already offers or has offered in the past.
UNC-Charlotte also submitted five proposals for programs in hospitality management, technical production, learning, design and technology, drone technology and engineering technology in fire and safety according to records the UNC System office provided CPP after initial publication of this article.
Community college partnerships
In addition to the 18 degree programs, one institution, Winston-Salem State University, submitted a pitch for a partnership with Forsyth Technical Community College and the Education Design Lab, a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit, in which specific accelerated degree programs would be developed after a joint research process.
The proposal states that Winston-Salem State and Forsyth Tech will design and pilot one to two high-demand pathway programs selected through a discovery process that will extend existing partnerships between the institutions, align with sectors like healthcare, applied technology and business, be structured as 90-credit degree programs and include stackable credentials and workforce alignment.
Appalachian State University also pitched 11 different programs with potential to be completed in 90 to 100 credit hours — nearly half of which relate to education, one of the largest shortages present in the state’s workforce, as well as nursing, criminal justice, construction management and others.
However, these degree programs would be designed as a pathway for associate degree holders coming from North Carolina community colleges. Traditional first-year students would not qualify, the proposal states.
In a proposal from East Carolina that the UNC System provided to CPP after initial publication of this article, the university also pitches an abridged degree program for those with associate degrees. It would potentially reduce general education requirements for programs such as accounting, cybersecurity and industrial technology.
Roll call
Perhaps as interesting as who pitched what is who doesn’t seem to be buying into the UNC System’s new venture. UNC-Chapel Hill is notably absent from the list of proposals, which Richard Garrett, chief research officer at the higher education consulting firm Eduventures, predicted to be the case last month.
“We’re not expecting three-year degrees from the likes of Chapel Hill, but I think from the regional campuses in the UNC System,” he said in April.
“There’s equivalents all over the country. They all face similar challenges. And I think this, this three-year degree idea, or reduced credit Bachelor’s, is a very clear, clean way of addressing the time and cost problem that I think the market will understand instinctively.”
Interest in the accelerated programs has generally come from private universities that are struggling with low enrollment and high tuition, Garrett said. Plus, there’s often a wait-and-see approach when higher education institutions find themselves in uncharted territory.
But if the UNC System is to move forward, Garrett suspects it might act as an agent of change for other university systems of a similar size and prestige — even if Chapel Hill sits this one out.
“The idea that a big, public, well-respected system has decided to invest in this potentially, or at least expressions of interest, I think that would make similar systems say, ‘Well, they’re doing it,’” he said.
“Often, if we don’t see our peers doing it, they say, ‘We’re going to wait and see.’ Someone has to go first, and once somebody goes first, then everyone else starts to relax.”
Elizabeth City State, North Carolina A&T, UNC School of the Arts and Western Carolina also didn’t enter any proposals according to the records received.
What’s next for 90-credit degree options?
Upon receiving the proposals, the UNC System will evaluate them for qualities like workforce alignment and to ensure the programs are additive, Harrison said in April. The goal is for the programs to bring in students who otherwise might not have attended a UNC System institution as opposed to taking students out of the traditional programs’ pools.
“We want these programs to attract students (who) might otherwise not choose to come to a UNC System institution at all for any kind of degree,” he said.
“We don’t want it, necessarily, to be a sort of situation where we’re taking away from our existing student pool who are in the traditional 120-credit-hour undergraduate degrees to launch these.”
Once implemented, it will be important to track outcomes like return on investment and student earnings to ensure the programs are meeting student needs, he said.
The new programs could be up and running as early as 2027.
Editor’s note: This article is based on the result of a records request that CPP made to the University of North Carolina System for the proposals that the various universities submitted. After initial publication of the article, CPP became aware that the UNC System had failed to provide some records, specifically those related to UNC-Charlotte and ECU. The article has been updated to include those.
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