Beginning next fall the University of Massachusetts will officially allow qualifying students to graduate in three years as opposed to the standard four. Some colleges and universities are already doing this, and many more plan to over the next few years. We agree that it looks good on paper, but we’d like to address some concerns.

First, an education “bubble” looms in the near future. The three-year degree is universities’ response to the bubble. They’ve figured out how to maintain credit inflow while permitting a few students the benefit of the slightly more affordable accelerated track. In actuality, only about half of students will graduate in four years. Many are taking up to an additional two years to complete their degrees. The students likely to capitalize on the three-year program will enter college with advanced placement credit or college credit by other means. They will also need to bulk up on credits during the regular semesters and take summer courses (which can be more expensive than fall and spring courses depending on the university). There won’t be much time for switching majors either (a rather frequent occurrence for undergraduate students). Some colleges with three-year degree programs require students to choose their majors during freshman year without allowing them to change.

Like in the case of the housing bubble, the United States government and taxpayers are funneling hundreds of billions of dollars annually into higher education predicated on the notion that a college degree secures jobs and future wealth. College and university administrators, already drunk from this huge credit infusion, ask for more and more each year. After tallying tuition, fees and housing, college is nearly a $50,000 per year investment (if you choose the private school avenue), which means many graduates carry home mortgage-like debt. This is unsustainable.

The National Center for Policy and Higher Education reports that a college education has outpaced the rate of inflation and the cost of healthcare. It has risen more than 400 percent on average over the last 25 years. The question is, like it was for the housing market, “When will everyone realize that the value of a college degree is continuously falling?”

Community colleges and online degree programs, such as those offered at the University of Phoenix, are attracting middle class students who cannot afford an exorbitantly-priced traditional education. Considering the job outlook for the next few years, these alternative educational paths are practical, if not genius. Holyoke Community College is still a better deal than a three-year degree from a traditional four-year university. When you factor in that research shows most college graduates aren’t even proficient readers and study much less than the class of yesteryear, the luxury four-year route is almost absurd.

Furthermore, the three-year degree program may appear cheaper at first glance. However, we want to know how many years of 400 percent inflation will it take for it to reach the cost of the four-year track? Take at look at Florida State University, for example. Roughly 40 percent of students enrolled in their three-year program remain for an additional year, thus eliminating expected savings.

This page also noted earlier this semester that a serious disconnect exists between what the administration says about the University’s finances and what the visible reality is. Recently UMass Amherst Provost James Staros told the Boston Globe, “As the state backs out of support for public higher education, and families take on a bigger chunk of the burden, we need to try to mitigate that.”

If the state has backed out of support for higher-ed, someone else is filling out his shoes very well. Instead of implementing a three-year degree track, perhaps a better way to “mitigate the burden” would be to halt the $375 million in construction projects the University currently has under way. 

In 2009, when UMass instituted a $1500 fee increase, it noted in a talking points memo that, “If … the fee increase remains in place, families at or below the state median of $78,500 would have the effects of the increase offset by additional grant aid.”

In other words, they raised the price of attendance knowing the feds (via taxpayer money) would pick up the tab. Colleges and universities are in cahoots with each other. Federal financial aid is a $200 billion per year racket, and every college president, chancellor and lingering administrative bureaucrat wants a piece of the very large pie. Unfortunately, it may take a bubble burst to put the brakes on the scam.

We support a three-year degree only if it will tangibly reduce student fees and debt. We remain leery of a program that will overburden students with coursework and inhibit them from enjoying college life outside the classroom. Is it really worth rushing through undergraduate school to potentially save a few thousand dollars? We hope UMass and its fellow universities are not trying to pull another fast one on their students and the taxpayers.

Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of The Massachusetts Daily Collegian’s Editorial Board.