FAU is now offering an accelerated bachelor’s degree program for students wishing to graduate early.

The university announced on July 13 that it will allow students to graduate within three years in an effort to improve its graduation rates, according to the Sun Sentinel.

“We have students on this campus who are ready a lot sooner to finish college,” Kelly told the Sun Sentinel. “If you want to to move quickly through the college experience, why are we holding you back?”

Less than a quarter of FAU students graduate in four years, and half finish in six years, according to previous reporting from the Sun Sentinel in February.

Three-year degree programs are not a new concept in the State University System of Florida. Other schools like Florida State, the University of Central Florida and Lynn University all have three-year bachelor’s degree programs as well.

The inclusion of this shortened degree program would expand the summer courses to look more like the fall and spring semesters.  

FAU has one of the worst on-time graduation rates in the country for first-time/full-time students, college advice website College Factual says. The website considers an “on time” graduation with a bachelor’s degree to take four years, but universities report their “overall” graduation rates at six years.  

Out of the 25,746 undergraduate students, only 2,916 full-time students, and 17.1 percent of them graduate on-time. Forty-six percent of them do eventually graduate, keeping FAU on average nationally for overall graduation.

The university’s graduation rates were among the reasons why the school lost funding in the state evaluation last month. FAU finished last alongside Florida International University and the University of North Florida with zero points out of ten in the graduation rate category.

 Nate Nkumbu is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @FoureyedNate.