Two N.C. colleges to offer 3-year programs

Two North Carolina universities are launching programs that will help students earn their undergraduate degrees in three years.

UNC-Greensboro and Mount Olive College officials said the  programs will help students save money and get an early start on their plans for graduate school.

“UNCG in 3,” announced Monday, is expected to save participating students up to $8,000 over three years, provided that students take the recommended 16 credits per semester and seven credits in each of two summer sessions, said Robert Brown, the UNC-G dean of division of continual learning.

Students also get priority in registration and extra advising help.

Brown said UNC-G has been planning this program for more than a year because of the large number of students entering college with many college credit hours.

Students with 12 hours or more of college credit upon enrollment will be invited to enter the program.

Students at UNC-Chapel Hill trying to graduate in three years said the University needs an organized plan in place to help them.

Out of 3,800 students who entered UNC-CH in 2006, 68 students graduated in three years.

Sam Chapman, a sophomore psychology major, entered UNC-CH from the Early College at Guilford with about 60 credit hours.

Chapman said he has had little help from UNC-CH. He has had trouble getting into classes he needs to finish his major, he said.

“It’s really hard when all I can take are miscellaneous classes and not the upper-level psych classes I need,” Chapman said.

UNC-G plans to launch the program in the fall of 2010. Mount Olive will launch its three-year degree program at the same time.

Brown said he was surprised to see Mount Olive College’s January  announcement of their three-year program. Mount Olive was the first college in the state to unveil a three-year program for students.

“We’ve been meeting over the past seven or eight months, and it’s been in the works for over a year,” Brown said.

Students accepted into the Mount Olive program with a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher will save $22,000, a year’s tuition, said Rhonda Jessup, director of public affairs at Mount Olive College.

Both universities plan to arrange preferential scheduling for three-year students so that they don’t have trouble taking necessary classes.

At Mount Olive, students in the three-year program can take as many as 24 credit hours a semester.

David Horton, a sophomore who entered UNC-CH with 47 credit hours, said he wants to graduate early for financial reasons.

“My parents are footing the bill for my education, and I could not ask them to pay an extra year of my tuition,” Horton said.



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.