Todd Wallack wrote an article for The Washington Post titled Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators (19 April 2026).
« TheUniversity of Maine’s Presque Isle campus has more than 3,000students in its online YourPace program, according to the school… Of the nearly 300 students who earned a bachelor’s in the YourPace program in fall 2024, the vast majority finished in less than a year. More than 1 in 4 finished their entire degree course load in a single eight-week session, half the length of a traditional academic semester. »
« There are no class meetings. No group discussions. No weekly assignments. Nothing to slow students down. »
« The online schools best known for accelerated degrees, such asMaine’s Presque Isle campusand Western Governors University, also let students transfer in as many as three-quarters of the credits from nontraditional sources. That includes giving students credit for past learning on the job, passing tests that show they already know the material, or completing tutorials from online learning platforms such as Study.com, Sophia Learning and StraighterLine, which can often take less time to complete than traditional college courses. »
« Serenity James of Atlanta completed 16 courses through an online learning platform in 22 days. That gave her most of the credits she needed for a bachelor’s degree at Western Governors. She finished the remaining 13 classes in two months last year and spent 2½ months earning a master’s of business administration. Altogether, she said, the degrees cost less than $9,000, which was covered by a scholarship, her employer and a Federal Pell Grant. »
« At some schools, students can sign up for as many classes as they want for a flat price per term. For instance, the YourPace program in Maine charges $1,800 per eight-week session for undergraduate programs and $2,450 for graduate degrees. That gives students a powerful financial incentive to push through the programs as quickly as possible to limit the cost and avoid taking out significant student loans. »
« “We want diplomas that mean something,” said Marjorie Hass, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, which represents more than 600 liberal arts colleges and universities. “I would prefer to have some of these degrees called something other than a bachelor’s.” »
« Nationally, it’s hard to know exactlyhow many students are graduating so quickly. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 44 percent of students finish a bachelor’s degree within four years but doesn’t offer numbers for shorter time periods. »
« Many U.S. schools have been experimenting with ways to speed up traditional college programs to reduce the burgeoning cost and help students move into the workforce faster. Some offer three-year bachelor’s programs, reducing the number of credits needed for a diploma by one quarter. Many more allow students to enroll in college classes while still in high school.
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