Governor Abbott names working group on three-year degrees - Bryan College Station Eagle

The group grew out of an Abbott directive aimed at cutting the time and cost of earning a college degree in Texas. Abbott said the state needs a clear, affordable path to high-paying jobs. The working group will spend its time identifying accelerated programs that could shorten the traditional four-year track.

The numbers behind the push are big. A three-year bachelor's degree could cut the total cost of a diploma by up to 25 percent, saving students somewhere between $15,000 and $35,000 depending on the program. That kind of savings matters in a state where student debt keeps climbing and families keep asking whether four years and a mountain of loans still makes sense.

For Texas Tech students and anyone weighing a degree here, the impact depends entirely on what this working group recommends and how fast state universities adopt it. Nothing changes on campus yet. The 13-member panel still has to define what an accelerated pathway even looks like before any Texas school can offer one.

A degree that costs up to $35,000 less raises an obvious question, who decides which majors get to move that fast.