Hello! Three-year bachelor’s degrees are routine at AIB

Every year about this time, sticker shock sets in among college-bound students and their check-writing parents. Then news stories pop up about (a) the exorbitant cost of college tuition and (b) the ongoing problem of students taking longer than four years to earn bachelor’s degrees.

This year is no exception. On Aug. 18, The Des Moines Register published a lengthy article describing efforts at state universities to help students graduate in less than five years. A few days later, President Barack Obama spoke of a “crisis in terms of college affordabilty and student debt” and outlined plans to lower the cost of a college education.

And I want to shout to everyone, “We already have one solution right here!”

Students at AIB College of Business are earning bachelor’s degrees in less than three years through an established, highly successful program at the private, nonprofit college. It’s not a newly devised effort being given a trial run; the program has been in place since 2006.  

“It’s encouraging that more universities are implementing strategies they hope will increase the likelihood of students completing bachelor’s degrees in four years,” says AIB President Nancy Williams. “But we already have in place a program that is saving college students – and their parents – thousands of dollars on tuition costs.”

Full-time students in AIB’s “Degree in 3” program attend classes year-round, either on campus, online or through blended-learning, which combines both formats. Each term is 11 weeks long, with one- to two-week breaks between each term and during the December holiday season.

AIB has articulation agreements with all 15 community colleges in Iowa, allowing easy transfer of credits for students who have earned associate degrees there. Those students then can complete bachelor’s degrees in less than two additional years at AIB.

This “Degree in 3” program has enjoyed proven success in allowing students to earn bachelor’s degrees, enter the working world sooner and keep college costs down. In fact, 2011 statistics from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reveal that the net tuition cost of the bachelor of science degree program at AIB was the lowest of all private colleges in Iowa, and it was one of the lowest of all private, four-year colleges in the United States.

Bachelor’s degrees at AIB are offered in Accounting, Business Administration, Sports and Event Management and Contemporary Business Communications. In Fall 2014, AIB will add bachelor degree programs in Financial Services and Planning; Human Resources Management; Marketing; Event, Hospitality and Tourism Management; and General Studies.

“AIB’s program does not just aim for graduation in four years instead of five – it is a blueprint for graduating in less than three years,” Williams says, “And students who were undecided about college this fall – or who want to transfer from another college – don’t have to wait for the end of a semester. They can enroll now for the Winter Term that begins Dec. 2.”