Virginia Tech and others in Virginia explore 3-year degree pathways

 While most STEM majors will remain 4-year degree programs, many other majors could soon become more direct pathways to the workforce.

Jul 22, 2026 -

from AXIOS News (click to see original)

Virginia explores 3-year bachelor's degrees

• by Karri Peifer

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

Virginia higher education leaders are exploring a three-year bachelor's degree, joining a growing national push to shorten college.

Why it matters: Students could enter the workforce a year sooner while potentially saving thousands in tuition and living expenses.

State of play: The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) announced last month that it's working with reps from several Virginia universities to explore 90-credit undergraduate degree programs.

• That would replace the traditional 120-credit, four-year model that's been the standard for most bachelor's degrees for more than a century.
• Virginia reps are working with counterparts in Ohio to develop the program, joining roughly a dozen other states that are offering or exploring a shorter degree option.
  
  

Zoom in: 11 of Virginia's 16 public universities and four private colleges have expressed "preliminary interest" so far, SCHEV spokesperson Bob Spieldenner tells Axios, cautioning that "the process is in the early stages" and unlikely to "work for most majors."

• Interested schools include Virginia Tech, VCU, George Mason, ODU, William & Mary, Radford, Longwood, Liberty and Virginia Union, Spieldenner says.