Tuesday, July 16, 2013

11 1/2 Month Masters Degrees

I am not at all sure about the business plan, but it may make sense to make two year masters degrees into almost one full year, in effect three intense semesters. For the student, the major cost of graduate education is the foregone income (total tuition is likely to be less or roughly equal), so faster is better if there are good jobs at the end of the program and they are a step up from before ($, prestige, kind of work). For the institution, I am not sure about the flow of income, but this is easy to assess.

Some students want to continue to work, and we might offer part-time programs. They are willing to delay the "step-up", or perhaps their being in school is enough to make a step-up possible?

Some programs may depend on a slower learning process. And those would not benefit. And some fields could not take so intense a program since the work required would overwhelm most students--although good curriculum design should make this less of a problem.

Doctoral programs might also be speeded up, but here the problem is that actual dissertation research cannot be so speeded up.

And of course undergraduate degrees, with no advanced placement, could readily fit into three years.

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