Why National American University challenged the traditional 40-course bachelor’s degree to create a more focused, career-connected pathway for adult learners.
The three-year bachelor’s degree is gaining attention across higher education. But what actually makes a bachelor’s degree a three-year degree? And can colleges reduce the number of required courses without compromising academic quality?
In October 2026, the National Task Force on Three-Year Degree Pathways released Redesigning Time to Degree: A Framework for High-Quality Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees. Convened by Arnold Ventures, Strada Education Foundation, and the College-in-3 Exchange, the task force examined how institutions can create shorter bachelor’s degree pathways without sacrificing academic quality or student outcomes.
The report makes an important distinction: a three-year bachelor’s degree shouldn’t simply be a traditional degree completed faster. It should reflect intentional curriculum design, preserve essential learning outcomes, and demonstrate meaningful value for students.
At National American University (NAU), those same considerations helped shape the development of our FOCUSED bachelor’s degrees.
NAU’s 3-year FOCUSED bachelor’s degrees require 135 quarter credits and 30 courses instead of the traditional 180 quarter credits and 40 courses. The redesigned structure removes ten open electives while preserving essential academic coursework and program learning outcomes.
But there’s another question an adult learner might reasonably ask:
“If it’s truly an elective, why can’t I elect not to take it?”
Traditionally, an elective gives students the freedom to choose which courses they take, but not necessarily whether they take them. And there’s educational value in that freedom to explore.
But should ten elective courses be required of every bachelor’s degree student, regardless of their experience, interests, or professional goals?
That’s the question NAU set out to answer.
Asking a Different Question
“We began by asking whether the traditional 180-quarter-credit structure was the best fit for the adult learners we serve,” said Dr. Cindy Mathena, President of National American University.
“Many arrive with college experience, professional knowledge, and clear career goals. They want to understand how each course moves them closer to those goals. Our guiding question became: How can we make every credit count toward a meaningful educational and professional outcome?”
That question led NAU to examine the role of open electives—courses that allow students to explore subjects beyond their major and general education requirements.
Rather than dismissing their educational value, NAU considered whether the same amount of exploration should be required of every student.
“Open electives offer genuine opportunities for discovery, especially for students still exploring their interests,” Mathena explained. “But adults with work experience and a defined direction may not need that same amount of mandatory exploration. The question was whether those ten courses should be required of everyone—not whether they have value.”
What Changes—and What Doesn’t
Removing ten courses raises an important academic question: What happens to the substance of the degree?
For NAU, protecting essential learning outcomes was a fundamental design requirement.
“Our starting point wasn’t simply how to reduce the number of credits. It was identifying what must remain intact to preserve the academic integrity of the degree,” explained Dean Steven M. Balke, Sr., who oversees NAU’s Management and Information Technology programs.
In those programs, NAU retained the full General Education and Major/Support Core curricula while eliminating open electives.
That distinction matters. General Education continues to develop communication, analytical thinking, and problem-solving capabilities. The major and supporting courses provide the discipline-specific knowledge and competencies students need.
“By retaining the full General Education and Major/Support Core curricula, we created a more efficient pathway without compromising the essential learning outcomes of the bachelor’s degree,” Balke said.
The result is a streamlined curriculum designed to maintain academic rigor while reducing the number of courses required for graduation.
This approach also reflects one of the central principles identified by the national task force: a reduced-credit bachelor’s degree must still meet the learning outcomes expected of a bachelor’s degree. Fewer credits should not automatically mean less learning.
Career-Connected by Design
NAU’s FOCUSED offerings span Management, Information Technology, Criminal Justice, and Strategic Security & Protection Management, with focus areas that allow students to pursue more specific professional interests.
For Dr. Barbara Burke, Dean of the Henley-Putnam School of Strategic Security, the connection between coursework and professional application is especially important in justice and security disciplines.
“In justice and security, career-connected tradecraft is the priority,” Burke explained. “These fields rely on specific, actionable skills.”
That means learning to evaluate threats, analyze intelligence, assess vulnerabilities, and develop protective strategies.
In NAU’s security coursework, for example, students may develop advance protection plans, evaluate security vulnerabilities, and apply intelligence-gathering techniques to organizational risks.
Management and IT students approach career-connected learning through different challenges, but the principle is similar.
“The strongest evidence of career-connected learning isn’t found in any single course,” Balke explained. “It’s found in the increasingly complex, real-world problems students learn to solve by applying knowledge and skills developed throughout the curriculum.”
Whether evaluating technology solutions, improving organizational operations, or developing security strategies, the emphasis is on connecting academic knowledge to professional application.
What Makes NAU’s FOCUSED Bachelor’s Degrees a 3-Year Model?
NAU’s 3-year FOCUSED bachelor’s degree model reduces the traditional 40-course requirement to 30 courses by eliminating ten open electives. The result is a 135-quarter-credit bachelor’s degree designed for completion in approximately three years of full-time study, while preserving the essential academic requirements of the degree.
Fewer required courses can also mean a lower overall tuition investment.
But NAU sees those benefits as part of a larger objective.
“Reducing required credits and potential tuition matters, but the larger measure is whether FOCUSED helps students achieve their goals while maintaining the quality and rigor of their education,” Mathena said.
That means evaluating student learning, persistence, graduation, and eventually the professional outcomes of graduates.
It’s also consistent with the national task force’s call for institutions to evaluate three-year degrees through student success, educational quality, and longer-term outcomes rather than simply measuring how quickly students complete their programs.
The task force acknowledges that evidence about the long-term outcomes of reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees remains limited. As more institutions introduce these programs and students graduate, continued assessment will be essential.
A Different Path to the Same Academic Goal
The traditional bachelor’s degree continues to serve an important purpose, particularly for students who value a broader educational experience.
But higher education is not one-size-fits-all.
For adult learners balancing education with work, family, and other responsibilities, a more direct academic pathway may offer meaningful advantages.
NAU’s FOCUSED bachelor’s degrees reflect that philosophy: preserve the essential academic foundation, connect learning to professional application, and reconsider requirements that may not serve every student equally.
Thirty courses instead of the traditional forty. The essential academic foundation remains. The pathway is more focused.
Because for adult learners balancing college with everything else life demands, making every course count matters.
Explore NAU’s 3-Year FOCUSED Bachelor’s Degrees
Sources and Further Reading
National Task Force on Three-Year Degree Pathways (October 2026). Redesigning Time to Degree: A Framework for High-Quality Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees. College-in-3 Exchange.
https://college-in-3.org/research-and-resources/2026-national-task-force-report/
Arnold Ventures (October 20, 2026). National Task Force Releases Framework for High-Quality Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees.
The external report provides context for the national discussion of reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees. It does not constitute an evaluation or endorsement of National American University’s FOCUSED programs.
